Progress toward the UK’s ambitious target for a decarbonised power system by 2035 is well in motion. Despite this, a recent report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) suggests that current plans aren’t sufficient to realise this vision, shining a light on the need for more commitment, collaboration, and credible action.
The energy industry has made impressive strides along the path to net zero in helping to reduce the UK’s emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy. This remains one of the biggest priorities for the industry right now against the backdrop of changing consumer behaviour, along with fast-changing demands from other sectors also working towards net zero.
Encouragingly, this is driving investment for innovation in products and services within the industry, particularly within areas such as digital transformation and domestic flexibility. Meanwhile, we’re seeing an increased focus on innovative market-led solutions and technologies to support peak flows and demand on the energy system as capacity grows.
However, the journey to net zero is one that none of us can undertake alone. The ESO’s uniquely central position enables us to work closely with innovators across the sector who are leading efforts to solve some of the toughest challenges we face.
It is part of our role to facilitate and cultivate this collaboration and continually support future innovation, problem-solving and dynamic intelligence around all aspects of the energy system to create a world-leading and sustainable energy system for the future.
The Virtual Energy System
The Virtual Energy System (VirtualES) programme is an excellent example of how a collaborative and open-door approach to innovation is playing a vital role in helping achieve this. It’s an ambitious industry-wide mission launched by ESO in late 2021 to digitise the entire GB energy system.
The prevalence of real-time data afforded by digital twins is already transforming many aspects of the energy industry. The VirtualES, which will be a shared industry-wide tool, will consist of an ecosystem of connected digital twins, providing a virtual environment to test, model and make accurate forecasts to support commercial decision-making while enabling the industry to understand the impact of expensive changes to the physical grid before they are made.
Laying the groundwork
A vision of this scale requires the right approach. Earlier this year, we received SIF funding for the Discovery phase of the Common Framework project: the development of the principles and technical framework for the creation of the Virtual Energy System programme.
To that end, we’ve been working with our technical partner, Arup, supported by Energy Systems Catapult and Icebreaker One, on a Common Framework to ensure different elements of the Digital Twin are compatible and adhere to a set of guiding principles which will make it inter-operable for users.
How does that work in practice? Well, one of National Grid ESO’s main priorities is to develop better ways to operate the system under zero carbon conditions. This will require increased visibility and the sharing of data across the industry if we want to be able to model the system at a national level.
For example, gas ‘peaking plants’ currently provide the majority of generation for balancing actions in the Electricity National Control Centre. However, there is currently no agreed way to calculate the intensity of these generators – making it harder to track what’s going on at a system-wide level at any point.
By establishing common standards, we can better assess carbon intensity to understand what improvements need to be made to network infrastructure and ESO operations in real-time. In turn, this can help us better predict how much reserve capacity is required to ensure a secure supply from renewable sources.
The initial discovery phase of the Common Framework was funded via Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund – a funding mechanism for innovative energy projects.
The power of together
We recognise that a lot of the best, most innovative and disruptive ideas come from working with partners outside of our organisation. That’s why we’re always looking ahead to the next opportunity to collaborate and broaden our portfolio of innovation projects.
Earlier this year, National Grid ESO was awarded SIF funding for its CrowdFlex: Discovery project. We’ve worked with Octopus Energy, Ohme, Element Energy, SSEN and WPD, to explore how technology and consumer behaviour patterns could enable domestic flexibility to support energy and grid management as part of the VirtualES programme. The project has secured additional SIF funding for the next Alpha phase, to better understand how system challenges, like peak demand or constraints, can be supported by domestic flexibility, through more accurate modelling and driving consumer engagement.
Meanwhile, have also been working with X, a “moonshot” division of Google, to transform dispatch optimisation tools and processes by proposing an integrated digital model that will allow us to better balance flexible supply and demand as more intermittent renewables come onto the grid.
Our recent Open Innovation Event in July was another great example of this approach. The brightest minds and best entries of our annual competition came together in Birmingham in July to pitch their ideas on how we tackle energy challenges. Over the next few months, the selected ideas may be taken forward through Network Innovation Allowance funding or further developed for a Strategic Innovation Fund proposal.
These types of projects wouldn’t be possible to deliver in isolation. We’re proud to be a partner to such a wide range of innovation stakeholders so we can tackle the challenges of the changing energy industry together.
Together, we’ve made impressive strides along the path to net zero. We now have an opportunity to take a more dynamic, joined up, and intelligent view of the energy system through projects like the VirtualES. By doing so, we can open the door to exciting innovations while providing new ways to collaborate and create new, more efficient services for consumers.