PILLAR: SMART NETWORKS
Shift 2.0
What we will do and why
Explore and test the use of dynamic and locational pricing to address secondary peaks, herding behaviour, and constraints, caused by LCT uptake and conflicting market signals.
Key Deliverables
- Impact analysis of changing demand profiles.
- Trial and simulation environment for testing price signals.
- New flexibility products.
Target outcomes
- Improved forecasts for smart charging.
- Deliver new flex products to customers.
Measures of success
- Successful adoption of trial flex products by market.
- Positive evaluation against our Distribution Systems Operator objectives.
- Reduced cost to serve.
Stakeholder Engagement
Stage 1 of this project was conducted with engagement and feedback from potential trial partners – Octopus, Kaluza and ev.energy. Their feedback ensured our conclusions were robust. In particular, these stakeholders validated that their algorithms today are scheduling their EV customers’ charging based on primarily wholesale prices, supplier imbalance risk, and wider signals such as carbon intensity, and that these can often coincide with the evening network peak.
The same EV smart charging providers have also been consulted through August and September 2023 in developing proposals for the next phases of the project, and have provided feedback and confirmed their interest in participating, subject to internal approvals.
We have partnered with Octopus and ev.energy to deliver the trials. We will continue to consult additional stakeholders, such as Ofgem, when exploring potential price structure options.
Public Detailed Docs
Planned start:
01.10.2022
Target completion:
30.10.2024
Key milestones:
- Impact analysis report and repeatable model (Jun 2023)
- Decision to proceed with flexibility trials (Jun 2023)
- Commercial, technical & trial design (Jan 2024)
- Price signal trials with market participants complete (Sep 2024)
- Insights and forward plan published (Sep 2024)
Status:
On Track
| Date of change | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 28.06.2024 | Update |
Overall project is on track despite two milestones (Price signal trials and Insights and Forward plan) due date got changed from April 2024 to September 2024. The delay is down to the complexity in the technical set up between UK Power Networks and project partners for the price signal trial. Stakeholder engagement has been adjusted. |
| 22.12.2023 | Update |
We added an additional output “Trial and simulation environment for testing price signals” to scope, and renamed first milestone from “Impact analysis report and repeatable model” to “Initial impact analysis”. We added additional milestone detail, remaining on track for the overall end date of the initiative. More detail about stakeholder engagement was also added, along with a link of where to find more information. |
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