Energy management company, Schneider Electric has revealed that it has won a contract with distributed network operator, Electricity North West to install a Distribution Management System (DMS).
The DMS project is claimed to pave the way for a smart grid in the area, that will bring “intelligent energy to 2.4 million properties and more than 5 million people”.
The three-year project will allow the grid in the area to become multi-directional and automated, allowing regions the ability to digitally manage grid usage in order to react to local demand.
“A smarter grid is vital to put the UK on track to meet the European objective of becoming a low-carbon economy by 2050, as well as allowing DNOs to meet the goals outlined by Ofgem in the new eight-year Price Control Period (RIIO-ED1),” explained Barrie Cressey, smart grid director, Schneider Electric.
Cressey continued: “The challenges posed by distributed generation, load growth and an aging grid are immense, but intelligent networks have the power to transform energy throughout the country. There are only a handful of such systems in the UK and it’s hugely exciting to be working on a project of this magnitude.”
Schneider claims that the DMS will be able to monitor and control the entire network, even energy distribution. What’s more, the network will be able to identify and heal outages as well as provide data to help improve its operation.
Schneider notes that the rise in intermittent generation source makes the case for smart grids far stronger – Electricity North West has quoted for over 1,800 distributed generation network connections in the last 11 months.
The DMS will allow the DNO to practice high levels of asset automation and get on top of peaks and troughs in supply and demand that will be amplified by increasing renewable penetration on the grid.
Steve Cox, head of engineering at Electricity North West sees the DMS as an inevitable step towards enabling our future grids to deal with renewables. He explained: “Over the next eight years, the existing energy infrastructure, designed for a one way flow of energy, will have to deal with a level of complexity never before seen. Future-proofing our systems to cope with this change was absolutely paramount in our choice of who to work with. The modularity of the system that Schneider Electric is able to provide means that we can expand and improve our system according to our needs.
Cox concluded: “Investing in an intelligent grid is vital for us as a business, for our customers and for the UK as a whole.”
