Powering Britain to net zero

The ENA’s Open Networks project is now consulting on the second stage of its mission to help the industry realise the UK’s smart energy future, to the benefit of us all.

Britain’s energy system has been going through an exciting transformation over the past few years with reform coming to the fundamentals of how we interact with our networks, giving customers more visibility and control of their everyday usage. As we transition to net zero, transformation projects such as Open Networks have been instrumental in this change. As the project launches its 2020 work plan ­consultation and looks to the year ahead, the whole industry will start to feel the benefits of the standardisation it is bringing.

The progress made through ENA’s Open Networks has helped Britain become a superpower of renewable, decentralised energy, with more than 30GW of local, low-carbon generation connected. Further integrating this technology into our energy system and operating it in a more flexible way means more clean energy for the country, a secure and steady supply, and lower bills.

But we must go further than our already impressive achievements. Keeping the boom of renewable technology going rests on the standardisation and alignment of processes and practices that Open Networks seeks to bring about in 2020. Enabling more flexibility rests on better and more transparent provision of data, standardisation of contract terms and lengths and breaking regulatory barriers to market liquidity – all things that Open Networks is set to deliver throughout 2020.

Last year, in a milestone decision, the entire industry came together to agree a shared distribution system operator (DSO) vision. This year the project will take the transition head-on, with networks releasing their DSO transition plans in the summer. The implementation plans will highlight the crucial decisions and actions needed to reach the smart grid by 2050, building more active distribution networks and giving customers the freedom to be both consumers and producers. These new local, active networks will make use of the growing numbers of connected local generation, storage and flexibility services to create an internet of energy, moving power around the networks to where it is needed most to keep costs down, encourage more low-carbon generation and power Britain forward to net zero.

Our recently launched consultation is a chance for everyone to share their views on the direction of the project this year and let us know thoughts on dates and timescales. Last year, the project formalised its commitment to community energy groups by taking the project around the country in a series of new community energy forums. This year we will continue to test key outputs and decisions with industry experts through the advisory group and work closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Ofgem to create the right regulatory environment to encourage innovation and investment in our networks, essential to reaching net zero.

The energy transition is not limited to electricity: it’s important for the whole energy industry to be considering how they can adapt networks and processes to include the latest technologies to decarbonise. The Open Networks project is actively looking at how both gas and electricity networks can work closer together, understand the effect of new clean technologies such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and hydrogen in the networks and how the benefits can be shared across the country.

ENA has become a natural home for network collaboration and transformation, and following the success of the Open Networks project, ENA and its gas members are set to deliver the world’s first net zero emissions gas network through the Gas Decarbonisation Pathways project. Decarbonising the gas network will be critical for the UK to meet its net zero targets, with heating being one of the most challenging issues to face. Britain has already become a world leader in renewable energy and it’s now time to do the same with gas by investing in more low-carbon and renewable gases, along with further electrification. Although in the initial stages, the project will speed up the move to net zero as smoothly as possible, minimising the impacts on our lives.

As the UK becomes the first advanced economy to put net zero targets into law, the government’s announcement on speeding up the rollout of low-carbon vehicles is very welcome. This, combined with the UK’s hosting of COP 26 in November, shows a clear commitment to decarbonisation and Britain’s world-leading energy networks are ready to help deliver.

We are already seeing the positive effects of more and more of us buying EVs, installing solar panels on homes and businesses and improvements in battery storage, with record amounts of solar energy being fed into the grid, and renewables overtaking fossil fuel generation for the first time since the industrial revolution.

Now is the time to act. Britain needs to move fast to meet our climate change targets, and the energy networks are already reforming to make sure that we get there. The ambitious programme of work planned for Open Networks this year is focused on innovation and delivery, standardising key processes that will power Britain forward to net zero. The 2020 Work Plan Consultation that Open Networks is currently consulting on is a great chance for all industry players to have their say on building the next stages of our new smart grid.