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This project ended in Apr 2019 and is now closed.

Project ENTIRE

Funding mechanismNetwork Innovation Allowance (NIA)
DurationJun 2016 - Apr 2019
Project expenditure1.8 million
Research areaCommercial
Website addresswww.flexiblepower.co.uk/
Regions
  • West Midlands
  • East Midlands
  • May 2019

    The project has now closed. Final reports will be published shortly.

Objective(s)  

The trial will identify and address many of the key challenges a DNO is presented with as they develop DSR and other commercial service capabilities within what is a traditional engineering and asset management organization. In doing so WPD will create a roadmap for WPD’s other regions as well as other DNOs to assist development of a commercial service capability and deliver increased value to their customers. 

In order to start this transition, it is necessary to ensure that the data held regarding customers with generation or sufficient volumes of flexibility to affect the network operation, is accurate and comprehensive. It is therefore our intention to carry out a deep audit of customer assets within the trial zones and ensure that they are compliant with the current standards, while taking advantage of this interaction to engage with them to educate and where appropriate recruit for demand side management activity. 

By carrying out this project we will ensure that the underlying assumptions regarding our networks are correct and that we have increased visibility of dynamic users that will effect operational decisions as we migrate to local system operation. 

Problem(s)

With the successful completion of previous trials that have sought to determine the principals of Demand Response and interaction with customers to modify behaviour, project Entire will progress the understanding of customers and their operational priorities. The trials have so far been limited in their scope with only small sample groups being engaged to offer quite limited functionality specifically for distribution constraint management. As the name ‘Entire’ suggests, we will now extend the previously limited scope to fully develop the skills, relationships and systems necessary for a DNO to provide a comprehensive DSR capability.
 

Method(s)

Building on the successes and the learning achieved during the commercial trials in Project FALCON, this project aims to develop and test comprehensive DSR capability to control generators and customer loads. Based on our previous small scale interventions using a very manually controlled DSR arrangement it has been proven that DSR can potentially provide a valuable tool in the management of transient or temporary network issues, particularly where the case is uncertain for a large capital investment. 

We are therefore seeking to develop our understanding and capability of DSR both in terms of advanced systems that would support BaU operation, but also the operational framework that would allow DNO DSR customers to participate more in wider DSR schemes operated by other parties, including National Grid. BaU use of DSR is likely to require regulatory approval and new policies from a governance perspective as well as new systems capabilities to operate and manage.

Finally, this is not an engineering based solution and therefore skills development in the commercial DSR markets will also feature as a key deliverable.

Areas of Work

The project will be focussed on two areas within the East Midlands that have been identified as requiring new GSPs (Grid Supply Point) which are very major capital works that will take several years to complete. WPD will use the new DSR capability to reduce peak winter demands and potential constraints on the existing GSPs which are becoming increasingly heavily loaded and reduce any operational risks associated with them.

Webinar

We recently held a final dissemination webinar for the project. You can view the full webinar below, or click here for a copy of the webinar slides. 

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