Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the distribution network operator (DNO) for central southern England and the north of Scotland, is trialling a new way to manage demand flexibility.
The new approach, which SSEN has dubbed “Demand Diversification”, will see the network operator incentivise customers to spread their electricity demand to less busy times, using smart technologies to schedule things like EV charging and heat pump activity.
There are two possible routes that this could take. The first would have flexibility service providers (FSPs), suppliers and aggregators, assigned an ‘Allocated Capacity’ and agree to manage consumers’ aggregate demand within this allocation—and be paid to do so.
The other option, which SSEN calls ‘Dynamic Congestion Response’, FSPs will be provided with real-time network data and paid to schedule the loads in their portfolios to times of lower demand.
Kevin Stewart, projects manager in SSEN Distribution’s Future Networks team, explained: “A massive advantage of technologies such as heat pumps, EVs, and electric storage heaters is that topping them up is schedulable.
“We are going to lean into this schedulable aspect of these technologies to explore how we can use innovative approaches and new services to schedule electricity use over a much wider period.”
The DNO will run simulations with teams at the University of Strathclyde’s Power Network Demonstration Centre (PNDC) and the Energy Systems Catapult. Data from the trials will be scaled up to assess how the new solution would work in network-scale scenarios.
PNDC will build on what its lead engineer for whole systems, Dr Priya Bhagavathy, called a “longstanding partnership” to create virtual network models.
“These advanced models will enable us to explore and analyse a wide range of network configurations, accommodating different load types and varying levels of Demand Diversification Services (DDS) integration.”
In May, Electron and SSEN agreed a three-year partnership, allowing SSEN to use the ElectronConnect FMP to boost its reach in the FSP market. On 12 August, it successfully adopted the ElectronConnect Flexibility Market Platform (FMP) and launched the first of a new round of flexibility auctions.
Incentivising consumer flexibility
As the UK’s energy demand puts increasing strain on the electricity grid, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has projected the need for high levels of demand side flexibility. To support this, energy providers and network operators are launching incentives to increase flexibility participation.
One example is Clean power provider Good Energy, which will pay its customers to automate flexible heat pump and home battery use using its new platform, FlexiRewards, which it claims will take demand side response “a step further” by automating customers’ flexibility.
