Empowering Sustainable Energy: distribution and grids

You can’t see it, you can’t smell it and you can’t hear it but electricity makes our way of life possible – and the way it’s managed is undergoing radical changes. Securing sustainable and affordable energy supplies in the future means that how we satisfy our energy needs is changing. And that means the demands we place of our energy distribution networks is changing too.

Moving away from our current cars to electric and hybrid vehicles, and shifting how we heat our homes away from gas to distributed heat will increase the demand for electricity. More local generation of electricity, which is inherently more intermittent, will change the demand profile of our networks.

How we design, build, operate and regulate our energy distribution systems will have to become a whole lot smarter. To achieve this will require a radically different approach to gathering data and how that information is used.

Additional telemetry points on the network and smart meters in the home will generate orders of magnitude more data than electricity retailers and distribution network operators (DNOs) have today. Both the operators of these new distribution systems and energy retailers will be able to create innovative tariffs that reward consumers for changing when and how much energy the use.

It’s also reasonable to imagine far greater changes – right down to the way the industry operates. For example, DNOs, generators and retailers could in future become part of a new energy services business – satisfying the needs of better informed and more environmentally aware consumers.

It’ll be a challenge, sure, but it also presents great opportunities to organisations ready to transform their businesses.

And at Logica, we know how to make the most of challenges – we’ve been integral to the transformation of the UK electricity industry over the last 20 years and we’re building on that experience to help your organisation plan for your future and take advantage of the opportunities it creates.

We are spending a lot of time getting to grips with smart grids and understanding what it will mean for you. We have carried out a number of surveys across the world to see how ready DNOs are for the smart grid. In this rapidly changing environment, you’ll need to combine a deep knowledge of the utilities industry with wider business transformation skills to make the most of the opportunities all around you. The insight and cross-industry experience we bring is a good place to start.

We find the future of energy an exciting place, as this sample of our recent electricity projects shows:

• Consultancy for Energias de Portugal to compete in the B2B market
• Full outsourcing support for two of the three largest UK DNOs
• SAP consultancy – we are SAP Global Service Partners, with more than 3,600 SAP consultants
• A real-time control and management system for 48 wind farms across the Iberian peninsula, using 1,000 wind turbines from different manufacturers
• EnergiKollen smart metering with Växjö Energi – it helps 20,000 households in Växjö, Sweden, understand and lower their energy consumption and won the European Utility Award
• Electric car charging points and a central management system, developed alongside all the Netherlands DNOs and electrical systems solution supplier ALFEN – it will manage and monitor 1,000 charging points across the Netherlands this year
• Creating SmartMap  to help you navigate the UK smart landscape