The National Grid’s Fitness Depends on Building a Flexible Core

Ashiss Kumar Dash, EVP and Segment Head – Services, Utilities, Resources, Energy at Infosys

 

In November 2020, as part of its ten-point-plan to achieve net zero by 2050, the UK announced that it would ban the sale of gasoline vehicles by the end of the decade, and hybrids would be phased out by 2035. Electrification of transportation is a big part of the government’s plans and while this is encouraging news, the question is, will the power grid be able to support future electricity demands?

When hungrier devices plug into the grid, networks will become peakier. Estimates are that EVs alone could add 24GW to peak demand by 2050 – twice what UK’s Nuclear Power Stations currently generate.

Renewable energy could fill the demand-supply gap at a local level instead of relying on national generation sources. In Q1 of 2020, renewables made up a record 47% of the UK’s power generation. Most of this was distributed power generated by local solar and wind farms, and a growing prosumer market.

While local demand could be served by local generators, in the future, it will be near impossible to realize the country’s energy needs without modernizing the grid. This network will need to support the bi-directional flow of power and enable prosumers to send excess electricity back into the grid. To distribute this power effectively, network companies will need to understand demand and supply at a much more granular level.

The result of this modernization effort could give rise to one of the most efficient grids and self-sufficient power generation setups anywhere in the world.

 

A Brighter Future is in the Works

The UK government has laid out a framework that would enable network companies to go beyond just operating and distributing power over local networks, to better management of the flow of electricity as demand rises. The framework calls for a ‘flexibility market,’ within which local generators, electricity suppliers, and network operators collaborate to serve the rising demand through smart and efficient local power management.

This ‘flexigrid’ will call for Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to transition into Distribution Systems Operators (DSOs). Like the Energy Systems Operator that manages electrical supply at a national level, DSOs will receive electricity and manage its distribution at local levels. They will also be able to consume and store power generated by prosumers and decide how electricity is distributed on the grid.

Network companies and DSOs will have to work together to reroute power from one place to another when demand gets peaky. They will need to work with prosumers and local solar and wind farms to source additional power affordably when required. The aim is to provide consumers enough headroom to run all their devices – from small electronics to EVs and heaters – with minimal interruptions.

The flexigrid network is adequately challenging when given the UK’s complex system of local Low-Voltage networks, but the government’s ambitious plans to open the utilities space to multiple players add to this complexity.

 

Debugging the Grid of the Future

As prosumers and network companies get into the energy space, provider management, maintaining standards, and enforcement of regulations will become arduous.

Distributing a fundamental resource: As more devices plug into the grid at roughly the same time every day, demand will get extremely peaky, and electricity could go from being available on-demand to being supplied in a staggered manner. While price-based modulation of usage can address this concern, it could significantly widen the accessibility gap to a fundamental resource. Network companies will need to plan on how to keep electricity distribution fair and accessible.

Flexible markets call for rigid security: While regulations are being drawn out for the flexigrid’s stakeholders, administering them across a complex network will require robust digital regulatory systems. As the flexigrid constitutes a critical national infrastructure, security considerations will need to be stringent. This will ensure the avoidance of a situation like Florida’s SCADA hack, where a hacker gained control of the system managing chemicals used to treat the water supply.

Tough but fair regulations: The UK’s network companies are regulated, minutely assessed, and subjected to close competition over 5-year periods. The upcoming period is especially tricky as network companies need to account for the flexible market while also trying to solve the social, technical, and security problems of the new grid. As these companies get rated for the reliable electricity provided to consumers, technology and data will become powerful tools to meet regulatory requirements.

 

What Powers the Future of Power?

For the flexigrid to deliver on its promise of effectively managing local demand and bringing local power generation onto the grid, network companies will need to meld a suite of digital solutions.

Better data is paramount: DSOs will require granular data about consumption patterns, prosumer generation, local grid capabilities, and constraints involved. This information will affect how DSOs assess need versus demand, manage constraints, and modulate demand and supply in real-time. Devices like the smart meters for consumers and sensors at distribution points will play a critical role in delivering this data to network companies.

Analytics will power the grid: With data at their disposal, network companies can assess everything from the need to ramp up the local generation of power to building more generation and storage facilities. Real-time analytics will enable players to sense and respond to demand quickly, as AI-driven predictive analytics model future scenarios and better prepare to address them.

Standardization will drive efficiency: As data gets shared with different stakeholders, establishing open data standards will help entities consume it readily and effectively. The case for standardization also applies to communications systems that control rooms will utilize to communicate with each other in real-time. Automated network management based on this communication will make the flexigrid faster and more efficient.

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