Parsons Brinckerhoff, the global engineering consultancy, is leading a consortium to carry out a detailed analysis of Great Britain’s future electricity distribution network. The study, on behalf of the UK’s Energy Networks Association (ENA), aims to ensure the network’s design and operation in 2030 will be capable of maximising the benefits of new ‘smart technologies’ and of efficiently facilitating the growing number of low carbon connections, including small scale renewable technology.
The project was awarded to the Parsons Brinckerhoff consortium – which includes the University of Manchester, PPA Energy, Chiltern Power and Grid Scientific – by the ENA, which represents transmission and distribution network operators for gas and electricity in the UK and Ireland, and also provides a strategic focus on the latest technical innovations and best practice.
ENA chief executive, David Smith, said: “As the UK moves towards a sustainable energy future our distribution networks will need to adapt if they are to continue delivering a reliable and affordable service. New technologies will provide solutions, but they also will pose new challenges for network companies, regulators and other stakeholders. The work which will be undertaken by Parsons Brinckerhoff will make an important contribution to understanding what those challenges are likely to be, and how we can overcome them in the years ahead.”
The consortium’s work, which will be published in late summer 2015, will involve detailed technical modelling of a range of network scenarios to understand how the distribution network will need to adapt to reflect changing demands. The current network – which takes power from the high voltage national transmission grid and distributes it to individual users – was designed in an era before smart technology and the growth in small-scale renewable generation connections and the requirement to meet substantial new loads such as electric vehicle charging.
The study will build on earlier work commissioned by the Smart Grid Forum, which was created by DECC and Ofgem to support the UK’s transition to a secure, safe, low-carbon, affordable energy system. This latest project – Work Stream 7 – addresses what is needed to ensure the distribution system, including smart technologies and the anticipated low carbon connections, is technically viable and will operate efficiently and resiliently in 2030 and beyond.
The Work Stream 7 project will provide knowledge and confidence in the technical options and inform the development of the commercial and regulatory structures needed. A key aim is to establish whether the roles and responsibilities of the parties that own, operate and interface with the electricity supply chain need to change, and how.
The study will focus on four representative network configurations chosen to cover a range of characteristics: a typical rural network; an urban network; and two forms of interconnected networks, one supplying a town with suburbs and the other supplying an area within a major city. The study results will help the country’s Distribution and Transmission Network companies plan their deployment of smart technologies to ensure the most cost-effective and secure outcomes for the future. The findings will also be of considerable interest to other stakeholders including the government, academia, customers, and supply chain companies.
