SSEN tests demand diversification in the UK
Image courtesy SSEN
SSE-owned energy company Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has started testing demand diversification in the UK, consisting of different real-world trials to manage demand on the power grid.
According to the company in a release, they are testing the trials, dubbed ‘demand diversification’, to find new ways of managing peak electricity demand in their north of Scotland licence area.
The trials will be augmented by simulations run with teams at the University of Strathclyde’s Power Network Development Centre and the Energy Systems Catapult, scaling-up the data from the trials to give an accurate estimation of how this new solution would work at scale.
According to the company, because an electricity network is designed to meet the peak demands placed upon it, much of its capacity is underused for most of the day.
Their demand diversification solution recognises these circumstances, giving customers incentives to spread their demand to less busy times, tapping into the ability of technologies, like EVs, heat pumps, and electric storage heaters, to be scheduled to periods when network demand is lower.
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Demand diversification
During the trial, SSEN says their key priority will be to ensure the network continues to work in a dependable way.
One potential solution is to have Flexibility Service Providers (FSPs), suppliers and aggregators, assigned an ‘Allocated Capacity’ and agree to manage the aggregate demand from their consumers within this allocation. They will be paid when they do so.
As well as Allocated Capacity, another, more dynamic, solution is being trialled. Under ‘Dynamic Congestion Response’, FSPs will be provided with real-time network data and will be paid to schedule the loads in their portfolios to times of lower demand. Doing so will also trigger payment.
Commenting in a release was Kevin Stewart, projects manager in SSEN Distribution’s Future Networks team: “Electricity demand is going to grow exponentially, as more people stop using polluting fossil fuels, and instead move over to low-carbon technologies. A massive advantage of technologies such as heat pumps, EVs, and electric storage heaters is that topping them up is schedulable – in other words, they can be charged at a time separate to when they’re needed.
“In our trial, we’re going to lean into this schedulable aspect of these technologies, to explore how we can use innovative approaches and new services to schedule electricity use over a much wider period.”
Said Stewart: “It’s paramount we manage the network in a safe, reliable, and enduring way.
“This trial will offer further insights into how this can be done; it’ll also provide us with an indication of the extent to which we’ll be able to use these flexible approaches to meet growing electricity demand without always having to resort to building new networks in the first instance.”
