Communications systems will be critical to net zero

Enhanced communications systems will be a critical enabler of the energy transition, according to sector expert Eric Brown. He sets out why the current model is not fit for a net zero future and the need for a proactive approach to designing a new way forward.

Proactively evaluate the need in a strategic and systematic way, engaging with the right  stakeholders to align interests and coordinate efforts; this will mean dependencies are identified and managed, and a coherent path that will serve the energy, digital and  communications communities can be prepared

Energy system transformation forms a key part of the journey to a net zero future. Digitalisation – the  strategic adoption of digital technologies and processes – is widely agreed to be needed to deliver this  transformation successfully.

Communications systems provide the connectivity necessary for digitalisation to work. Today’s  communications systems do not deliver what will be needed. The resilience and availability to support critical national infrastructure such as the energy system requires enhanced systems and infrastructure  to be deployed.

Future communications systems will be different

The energy system needs more data connectivity. This extends beyond the networks. More actors and devices will be connected, more data and information will need to be exchanged, more interactions will be taking place. Today there are perhaps thousands of instances, but this will become many millions or  tens of millions. It is also likely that connectivity will be needed in places where it is not readily available  today and where assets that are not currently connected and controllable, will be located.

Energy system transformation does not mean that new forms of connectivity must be invented, but  connectivity will be supporting new use cases, some of which will be technically or commercially critical  or will be necessary to deliver good service to consumers. New integrations of technologies and systems will be required.

What does this mean?

The implications of energy system transformation – and its reliance on digitalisation – for communications systems and capabilities are threefold:

Firstly, relying on the current approach to deliver is a very bad assumption.

It is unreasonable (and unwise) to assume that today’s existing and planned communications  infrastructure will somehow naturally evolve to serve the requirements that will emerge from  profound energy system transformation. Such an expectation could arise by virtue of the seeming  “ubiquity” of communications that supports our everyday home and working lives. However, the  communications needed to support the energy system is different, with higher levels of resilience  being one key consideration, geographical availability being another.

Communications systems and the services they provide must explicitly respond to the specific  demands of energy system transformation and its reliance on digitalisation.

Secondly, requirements are not fully knowable in advance nor absolutely certain, and never will be.

The energy sector is not able to provide clear, firm, enduring requirements for communications  systems and capabilities because its own transformation is characterised by a high degree of  complexity and uncertainty. Nonetheless it will depend heavily on connectivity being available  where, when and in the form needed.

Efforts directed at digitalisation are not yet mature and cannot provide firm requirements given  that the energy system transformation it is enabling is characterised by uncertainty, as is the path  that digitalisation will follow in responding to the arising challenges and opportunities. Nonetheless  it also will depend heavily on connectivity being available.

Against this background, the communications sector and the technologies and business practices  it uses are also evolving in response to the demands of other sectors and consumers.

The lack of certainty and the strong interdependencies can be addressed if a system approach is  taken that coordinates and helps align the needs and delivery of energy system transformation,  digitalisation and communications systems in a coherent way. They cannot be treated in siloes or on a traditional transactional basis.

And finally, markets on their own will not deliver what is needed.

The trend in communications infrastructure and services generally is that they are directed by  markets which serve the needs of domestic consumers and enterprises well but not those of critical  national infrastructure such as the energy system. A strong requirement for critical infrastructure is resilience. Market mechanisms do not value resilience sufficiently to deliver it at the level needed  and the regulatory context does not require the telecommunications network operators to design  and deploy a suitably resilient system.

How to move forward…

There are four possible courses of action to address the need for communications systems to be  considered as part of energy system transformation:

• Option 1: Do nothing and rely on the communications sector’s own direction of travel aligning with needs as they emerge
• Option 2: Do nothing and react with urgent measures when these are demanded
• Option 3: Deliver specific measures to address anticipated requirements, accepting that these may not take a strategic or systematic perspective
• Option 4: Proactively evaluate the need in a strategic and systematic way, engaging with the right stakeholders to align interests and coordinate efforts; this will mean dependencies are identified and managed, and a coherent path that will serve the energy, digital and  communications communities can be prepared

Option 1 and Option 2 cannot be relied upon to deliver desired outcomes, certainly not without  substantial and unquantifiable risk and excess cost. Both however are tempting as they might be justified by the apparent lack of requirements that would make another course of action clear. This is an illusion.

The apparent dearth of clearly articulated requirements is not that they are not present and emerging; it is that they are arising from a very complex, uncertain transformational process. Waiting for certainty will mean that it will be too late to act effectively.

There are various activities and initiatives that could be described as being consistent with Option 3. Option 3 seeks to address needs that have the least uncertainty, but such efforts tend to focus on one aspect or issue and not take a system wide perspective.

Option 4 will allow a strategic approach to be followed and address prioritisation, sequencing and the allocation of resources. Following Option 4 will permit Option 3 to happen with the benefit of allowing current efforts to be consolidated and applied to beneficial effect.

Option 4 is needed if the energy system is to be optimised and if its transformation is to be supported in a timely manner. It effectively describes taking a systems approach with the benefit of a coherent strategy and a delivery plan.

In any case, there is work that needs to happen to qualify the situation properly and develop a well-founded strategic, technical and business case for communications systems and capabilities to support and enable energy system transformation. This case will allow communications capability to take its place  on the agenda and be part of the plan for energy system transformation.

But there is no well-articulated plan…

Substantial study by many across the energy community has provided insight into what changes could be made to deliver a decarbonised energy system; these are well described in the Net Zero Strategy, British Energy Security Strategy and many other government, regulator and industry reports. However there remains significant uncertainty about how to deliver it: the sequencing, the roles and responsibilities, the finance, commitment of resources, and other critical considerations.

A strategic delivery plan is lacking. This is clearly expressed in the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC)  delivering a reliable decarbonised power system report, the National Audit Office (NAO) report on  decarbonising the power sector, the Hydrogen Champion report and in many other reports and articles. All of these make recommendations for addressing the urgent need for a strategically coherent delivery plan.

In the absence of such a plan it is not possible to know and state system requirements with any reliable degree of certainty, including those requirements that relate to key dependencies such as digitalisation and in turn to communications systems and infrastructure. Even with such a plan, it must be capable of adaptation to allow it to respond to emerging change that will in turn, be reflected in identified and new  dependencies.

A great opportunity to act now

There is an opportunity – and imperative – to act created by the clearly stated recommendations in the NAO, CCC and Hydrogen Champion reports. Communications systems should be included explicitly in the work that responds to these (and other) calls for a delivery plan for energy system transformation. This is effectively the approach to implementing Option 4.

Lack of the plan today should not be seen as a justification to follow Option 1 or Option 2. This will only delay and increase the scale of the issue and the cost of the challenge. Communications systems must be built into the plan, and not left to be added later as an afterthought.

Next steps should include immediate actions to consolidate current efforts and to help build the strategic, technical and business case that supports and responds to emerging requirements and the pursuit of net zero.

The stakeholder community needs to be brought together to support this work and help ensure there is alignment of purpose. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ofgem, Ofcom, the National Infrastructure Commission, ENA, JRC, techUK, Smart DCC, communications network operators and supply chains are likely to be key players.

The further opportunity is to include communications systems within the mandate of the Future System Operator (FSO). This is not to suggest that the FSO takes ownership of communications policy or implementation, but that it is required to coordinate the necessary efforts across the relevant stakeholders to ensure that communications systems are an enabler of energy system transformation and not a barrier.

Eric Brown is a director of Grid Scientific and was senior figure at the Energy Systems Catapult