Next steps – priorities in 2024

While SSEN’s DSO has made some great strides already to build strategic planning capability, improve data transparency and clarify opportunities for providing flexibility services, there remains much to do before dynamic flexibility services are a business as usual feature in coordinated management of a net zero power system – at local and national levels.

There are some priority issues for SSEN to make progress on. One is ensuring that smart meters are fully rolled out and properly utilised for better identification, and management, of flexibility opportunities. But beyond the action SSEN can and will take to fulfill its DSO duties, Roper is emphatic that there are a number of wider “ecosystem” points which need clear decisions and rapid development in 2024. Foremost among these, are the appointment of a central flexibility market facilitator and the establishment of the National Energy System Operator (NESO), along with its subsidiary network of Regional Energy System Planners (RESPs)

Smart meter data

Focusing on the actions within his gift first, Roper highlights the imminent launch of a new smart meter data platform from SSEN which will be made available to external users at the end of February.

“The new platform – which is an extension of SSEN’s open data platformenables suppliers and aggregators of flexibility services to see what the opportunity is for provision of flexibility down at low voltage level,” says Roper. We are publishing half-hourly data each day for over 84,000 LV feeders (street level), over 36,000 substation from 1.8 million meters with numbers growing each day as smart meters continue to be rolled out. This is significant because, “to date, most of the work that’s been done to date on flexibility on distribution networks has been done at the higher voltage end of the spectrum. But to be fair and inclusive these flexibility services need to be available down at LV level – to be open to participation from domestic customers.”

While suppliers already have access to smart meter data for their customers, what SSEN’s new data hub will support is an ability to cross reference smart meter usage with constraints on the network, making the identification of opportunities for engaging in flexibility much more readily apparent, explains Roper.

“In turn, this should help suppliers and aggregators develop their products and go-to-market strategies for specific profiles with greater confidence,” he adds.

“It’s really important at a local level that you know not only what services different customers are signed up to but also that location of the service they are providing.”

The presentation of network level smart meter data in SSEN’s new portal at this scale is, Roper claims, an industry first. “My feeling is we’re about six months to a year ahead of other DSOs in this area,” he says. “We were the first to agree our approach with Ofgem to aggregate the data at LV feeder level and bring it together in an innovative cloud platform from CGI.”

In addition to illustrating a useful link between smart meter customers and network constraints for suppliers and aggregators, Roper says the smart meter hub will support SSEN’s conversations with the ESO about the need for demand turn up services to take into account the location of flexible response.

“At the moment, demand turn up services to address system level constraints are being triggered regardless of location. That’s fine when there are not a lot of participants. But when you have many participants you could cause an overloading issue at local level – which would ironically then drive a need for a responding flexibility service to deal with,” explains Roper.

Also coming soon

In addition to SSEN’s smart meter data hub launch, look out for:

SSEN’s Flexibility Future Vision and Roadmap, March 2024
The results of SSEN’s consultation on its Data Roadmap and publication of its Data Collaboration Plan in March 2024
Confirmation of SSEN’s DSO Advisory Board, March 2024

To avoid this kind of counterintuitive interaction between flexibility services for distribution and transmission level needs, Roper says coordination is key and the new view of smart meter data in relation to distribution network dynamics will support more productive discussion about how that coordination should be supported.

“It’s really important at a local level that you know not only what services different customers are signed up to but also that location of the service they are providing – because they interact with and magnify the dynamics caused by other providers of services in the same location,” Roper emphasizes.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the numbers of customers able to sign up to participation in various local and national services in a specific location need to be restricted adds Roper. But it does mean there needs to be mechanism in place for staggering response so that local networks are not “adversely effected”.

The bigger picture

A focus on achieving better coordination between local and national services is Roper’s big ask for 2024 in terms of development of the wider energy flexibility ecosystem.

He’s hopeful that some major developments due to take place in coming months will help this fall into place. Most prominently, these include the selection of a new “market facilitator” by Ofgem and the birth of the new National Energy System Operator along with its network of Regional Energy System Planners (RESPs) which will help clarify the shape of local energy transition plans.

“The market facilitator decision will be transformational,” says Roper. “It will enable easier stacking of flexibility services which is really important for flexibility providers But from our perspective, a critical thing is that it will help resolve an imbalance that exists today between the value of flexibility at national and local levels.

“Currently, the value of flexibility at system level is around 10 times that at a local level because the value of deferred investment for us is so much lower. But, if we have that better coordination across markets, we will be able to see the true value of investment decisions at a local level in a whole system context.”

Turning his attention to RESPs, Roper is again enthusiastic about their potential to help SSEN accelerate its DSO development and clarify its strategic investment requirements.

“We begin our RIIO3 planning in a year. Really, the RESPs need to be robust by then to give local networks clarity and that is a tall order.”

“The RESPs concept is very much in line with what we recommended to Ofgem during consultations about what was needed to support future system governance,” comments Roper. “Their role is not about planning the networks. Rather it will be about assessing on a street by street basis the likely solutions for heat and transport. Is it going to be heat pumps for individual properties? Or will it be district heating? If it’s the latter, will they be provided by central heat pumps or is there a possibility for a small modular reactor – for example? On transport, we have a good idea about the potential for EVs and what the scope is for off-street versus curb-side charging. But what’s the local outlook for rail electrification?”

With RIIO ED3 fast approaching, Roper says getting rapid clarity on these points is critical. “We need this information for our projects. If we’re going to deliver a decarbonised network by 2035 we need to be sizing it for need now. For some areas its easier to make assumptions, but for town centres and blocks of flats its more complicated and some of the possible solutions would come with much higher point load. We need to understand that.”

With these high hopes and expectations of the RESPs expressed, Roper also shares some concerns about the ability of these new entities to get to grips with their brief quickly and, crucially, to interact with the sheer scale of local energy stakeholders who will be represented across their regional patches.

“We begin our RIIO3 planning in a year. Really, the RESPs need to be robust by then to give local networks clarity and that is a tall order,” Roper reflects.

“One thing which will be particularly challenging for them is establishing relationship with local authorities across their regions. You need to find the right person to liaise with and time and resources are thin on the ground – as we know all too well. It was the challenge of interacting with Local Authorities efficiently and at scale which motivated us to develop LENZA.”

Resuming a more optimistic tone however, Roper is reassured by the “mood music” and energy around new system governance arrangements. “Things are certainly becoming clearer and there is a growing acknowledgement that we need to get on with this.

“Building out a network now based on some well-founded assumptions – and with flexibility in the tool box as a way to bridge the gap between current and future capacity and to manage peaks – will be a lot less costly than kicking the can down the road.”

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