Flexible Power Wins at Utility Week Awards

We’re delighted to have been named the winner of the Disruptor category at this year’s Utility Week Awards for our work in developing the ground-breaking Flexible Power platform.

Since it was set up in 2017, the platform has saved customers millions of pounds by delaying or avoiding the need for conventional network reinforcement and has been adopted by four of the UK’s five other electricity distribution network operators (DNOs).

Flexible Power began life as an innovation project to explore if customer flexibility could be used as a way of managing the network while keeping reinforcement costs down. It swiftly became ‘business as usual’ and developments have continued at pace to facilitate more forms of flexibility. Other distribution network operators have chosen to use Flexible Power because it offered the most technologically advanced solution. At WPD, we’re very proud of how it’s grown – and extremely proud that it has been recognised at the Utility Week Awards.

Ben Godfrey, WPD Distribution System Operator (DSO) Manager, said: “The purpose of Flexible Power has always been about changing the way we traditionally do things. In the past, increased demand on the network would have automatically incurred reinforcement. The development of flexibility enables reinforcement to be deferred until we are sure it is necessary and economic. Our “flexibility first” approach allows us to undertake that options analysis for all our load related reinforcements.

“Flexible Power has been used by WPD to embrace the ‘business as usual’ concept of considering flexibility first when there are constraints on the network. This is now a pillar of our RIIO-ED2 Business Plan. With increasing market interest, it is now saving bill payers from incurring millions of pounds additional spend every year as conventional reinforcement is delayed or prevented. What makes Flexible Power different, and industry-changing, is that other DNOs have already joined us, proving Flexible Power was the best platform available when we were all faced with the challenge of allowing more customers to benefit from flexibility.”

In 2020, we estimate 1,777,498 WPD customers were served via flexibility procured through the Flexible Power platform. In addition:

• 74 reinforcement schemes assessed
• Flexibility deferred eight conventional reinforcement schemes, saving £39.4 million
• £674,000 was spent on flex services
• 462MWh was delivered by flex providers
• 20 contracts for a total of 440MW were signed by 19 providers
• Provision was requested in 52 zones, across 270 primary subsations
• The combined volume of interest from the market was 925MW
• Average flex provider delivery was 93%
• WPD accepted 4,983MWh of availability of our Dynamic Product, used for post-fault constraint management flexibility
• WPD accepted 91,820MWh of availability of our Restore Product, used for restoration support.

The Utility Week achievement awards are regarded as the most prestigious in the utility industry with stiff competition between businesses.

WPD was also shortlisted in the Community Investor category for its support of vulnerable customers and in the Innovation category for its helicopter unit upgrade.