It’s good to talk! Customers help us to create latest projection for our energy future

We’ve published the latest snapshot of how the energy network of the future may look across the Midlands, South West and South Wales, with the help of extensive feedback from our customers.

The publication of our annual Distribution Future Energy Scenarios (DFES) follows unprecedented engagement with local authorities and other stakeholders across our region.

By building a clearer picture of stakeholders’ own energy plans, we can map out possible future energy scenarios to help inform our strategic network planning and investment, ensuring that investment best serves customers’ future needs and supports decarbonisation. This includes allowing for an expected growth in new technologies, such as demand, storage and distributed generation, electric vehicles and electrified heat, as the UK moves towards net zero by 2050.

The DFES also takes into account historic trends, current projects and local resources to create a range of credible scenarios, with projections extending to 2050.

Ben Godfrey, WPD Network Strategy Manager, said: “The level of engagement with local authorities was unprecedented. We’ve taken all the data from their local development plans and also discussed the expected uptake of Low Carbon Technologies (LCTs), like solar panels and heat pumps, to get a clearer idea of how the network will look going forward.

“We’ve liaised with more than 100 local authorities, as well as Local Enterprise Partnerships and other stakeholders, to help us understand what the network needs to be able to do to meet customers’ expectations and the challenges of a rapidly-changing energy landscape.”

We’ve published a technology summary for each of our four licence areas, as well as methodology slides and four regional reports here.