Delivering an environmentally sustainable network

Our Business Carbon Footprint

Stakeholders rightly want to see WPD leading by example in the Net Zero transition, with ambitious Science Based Targets (SBTs) that go above and beyond those set by the UK government. Key to achieving this will be the reduction
of emissions from WPD’s vehicle fleet and adopting electric vehicles, as well as reducing the number of miles travelled. As a priority, stakeholders expect WPD to increase the use of low-carbon energy at WPD properties and ensure buildings are carbon neutral ahead of government targets.

Operational Impact

Not only must our own carbon footprint be a priority, our stakeholders have articulated the importance of improving the environmental impact of our operations. In this area, stakeholders have made it clear they will not be satisfied with unambitious strategies; they want to see substantial commitments that surpass RIIO-ED1 levels, particularly in reducing harmful leaks from WPD’s equipment. As a minimum, WPD must control gas leaks, as the potential impact is catastrophic, while eliminating the use of SF6 is also a priority. To future-proof the sustainability of our operations, stakeholders want to see WPD predict leaks wherever possible and replace ageing infrastructure, particularly oil- lled cables.

Impact of our network

To reduce the environmental impact (including visual) of our network, the undergrounding of cables is a desired output. Stakeholders expect WPD to continue to invest in newer and more e cient equipment to reduce technical losses,
and to address the amount of generated waste sent to landfill.

In this area, they would like to see WPD go further, considering all waste entering the business, with a target of zero waste by 2030. To achieve these objectives, stakeholders have asked for a collaborative approach; WPD should seek to consult with experts and local environmental intelligence to better understand the negative impact of our activities on the environment and biodiversity.

WPD aims to be a leader in environmental sustainability, setting an industry-leading precedent and driving the decarbonisation of the UK. We will set Science Based Targets to monitor and ensure our progress towards this goal.

Our annual business carbon footprint takes into account the associated carbon emissions from a number of our business activities including the emissions from our operational transport fleet, the energy used in our buildings and electricity substations, releases of SF6 (Sulphur hexa fluoride) - a greenhouse gas used as an insulator by manufacturers of electrical switchgear - and the impact of company travel. We have already made strides to reduce our business carbon footprint, recording a 12% reduction in RIIO-ED1 compared to 2012/13. We have also made Electric Vehicle pool cars available at all depots, and reduced our operational vehicle emissions by 11% in 2019/20 compared with 2018/19.

In RIIO-ED1, we committed to improving the visual amenity in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty by replacing 55km of overhead line with underground cable, which we are on target to achieve.

To reduce our operational impact, we have already removed 44.8km of Fluid Filled Cables and reduced fluid and gas leaks from electricity equipment with 75% fewer fluid filled cable (FFC) leaks and 17% fewer SF6 gas leaks than our RIIO-ED1 target. The amount of energy used in the process of delivering power is known as a technical loss. Understanding and reducing these losses will also improve our environmental sustainability.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) are now known to be highly toxic industrial compounds and were found in the oil of some pre- 1989 transformers and a small range of other equipment.

In line with our zero waste ambitions, we have measured a 23% reduction in waste tonnage and a 26% reduction in tonnage sent to land ll in 2019/20 compared to 2018/19, with a total of 78% reduction in the tonnage of waste being sent to landfill
in RIIO-ED1.

You are currently completing package 3.1 regarding environment and sustainability. 

Within the table there are 4 options to chose from, the highlighted panel, option 2 is WPD's current view. 

Please select one of the 4 options within the form for each commitment, if you feel there should be alternative commitments please select option 5 and then use the free text box to specify. There is also a free text box at the bottom of table for any further commitments.  

Flexibility Services

Flexibility is viewed by stakeholders as a key part of the provision of network capacity as load grows on the network. As flexibility
is based upon contractual arrangements, stakeholders insist that rules and tariffs must be simple and standardised to ensure that it is easy to participate in the flexibility market.

Information should be clear and enable domestic, commercial and community customers to understand how they can participate in providing flexibility services. WPD must, therefore, work to facilitate network exibility and educate end-customers.

Digitalisation

In order to best support our customers’ planning and unlock innovative approaches to decarbonisation, stakeholders want us to provide clear, simple and easy access to high quality data. Therefore, as a priority, WPD should make as much data as possible open and easily available, in a format that customers can understand and use.

Stakeholders have expressed that sharing data could facilitate and encourage collaboration, for resulting in more efficient outcomes for customers.

Scenario Planning and Whole Systems

Collaboration with other utilities and companies within the energy industry is viewed as hugely important by stakeholders in order to arrive at the most effective and efficient solutions. They believe this will provide the necessary clarity about where the network has the capacity for more renewables.

Stakeholders expect WPD’s collaboration, particularly with local authorities, to engage with local development proposals so that areas of growth can be accurately identified. Further, they would like to see WPD help more low carbon technologies to connect, in line with local net zero ambitions.

For stakeholders, providing the best possible outcomes for customers is crucial. They have proposed that WPD could improve the ease and cost for customer participation in flexibility services by acting as a facilitator to bring together the many parties involved in emerging energy service markets.

The UK Government has set a target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. WPD has a vital role to drive this shift to a low carbon energy future, in particular facilitating the use of low carbon technology such adoption of electric vehicles (EV) to decarbonise transport and the adoption of heat pumps to decarbonise home heating systems.

In the current price control period we have already facilitated a significant growth in distributed generation and EVs. This growth has posed engineering challenges, which have led us to change the way we design and operate the network. We have developed flexible ways of connecting customers to the network that allows us control the amount of energy being imported/exported by a customer at times when the network is constrained.

This defers the need to install new equipment with larger capacity (referred to as ‘conventional reinforcement’), which can take time and be more expensive.

We expect the growth in low carbon technology to increase loads on the network. Previously, network capacity would only be provided by conventional reinforcement, but we are now
also making use of flexibility services, where customers change their usage in exchange for a payment to help us avoid the need for reinforcement. We have established flexibility markets and procured the highest amount of flexibility across all UK DNOs. Our flexibility first approach is shaping how we will provide network capacity in RIIO-ED2.

The increasing volumes of distributed generation, EVs, heat pumps as well as development in energy storage calls for the use of more sophisticated and smarter ways to manage power flows. This is commonly referred to as Distribution System Operator (DSO) services. A key component to making the network smarter is to use digital technologies. This will require the installation of sensors and control equipment to collect more information to control the network and develop new, innovative services.

Since 2017, WPD has been producing distribution future energy scenario (DFES) forecasts of the impact of low
carbon technology growth and assessment of how these may lead to network constraints. These are based upon the ESO’s Future Energy Scenarios and refined by engagement with local stakeholders and connections activity. This establishment of DFES analysis has allowed us to determine WPD’s best view scenario for the future, upon which the draft Business Plan is based. 

Data is core to all of these changes. We recognise that data should be presumed open unless proven otherwise for privacy, security, commercial or confidentiality reasons. We already share data via our online Energy Data Hub, but this could be enhanced further to allow customers to self-select data from more datasets and in the format of their choice.

You are currently completing package 3.2 regarding a smart, flexible network. 

Within the table there are 4 options to chose from, the highlighted panel, option 2 is WPD's current view. 

Please select one of the 4 options within the form for each commitment, if you feel there should be alternative commitments please select option 5 and then use the free text box to specify. There is also a free text box at the bottom of table for any further commitments.  

Stakeholders believe that WPD is well-placed to lead the way with innovation, helping to facilitate change across the industry and drive the UK’s decarbonisation. They were clear that WPD must act on stakeholder feedback and lobby for change in order to avoid the issues that have occurred in previous national projects e.g. the smart meter roll out.

While being an industry leader, WPD should not strive to work alone, but in collaboration with both the wider energy industry and other industries altogether. Stakeholders want to see us support companies and individuals to develop innovative projects, and to work with major energy users to develop intelligent solutions to reduce current demand.

Stakeholders have suggested that innovation research and case studies are a great vehicle to communicate opportunities for collaboration with partners. Therefore, WPD should prioritise publishing research and projects (both successes and failures) to foster a dialogue with potential partners.

Innovation is the process of having new ideas, developing them into practical solutions and trialling them to investigate their effectiveness. It will provide more flexible solutions that are better, cheaper or quicker than the current ways of doing things.

The RIIO-ED1 Network Innovation Incentives and the UK’s Net Zero targets have and will continue to bring huge change and significant opportunities to innovate.

Innovation does not have to be on a large scale; sometimes improvements can be achieved through evolutionary change, involving incremental improvement to existing methods.

WPD’s innovation programme is targeted at all of our key delivery areas of safety cost efficiency, customer service, reliability and environment to drive improvements in our service for customers. It is also key to helping us to address the challenges brought about by the low carbon transition.

To date, our innovation project portfolio has enabled us to deliver significant learning to the wider business as well as other network operators. We have delivered more than 120 innovation projects over the last 10 years, which have enabled significant changes in how we operate our business, providing benefits to customers. A key example of this is the learning as part of our Low Carbon Networks Hub project that has enabled us to roll out Active Network Management (ANM) across each of our four licence areas.

Flexibility services now delivered through the Flexible Power brand were created as part of the a WPD Network Innovation Allowance project, which developed technical and commercial requirements to utilise flexibility as a service to avoid asset investment by better utilising the existing network and therefore keeping costs to customers lower than if we had to reinforce the network. 

You are currently completing package 3.3 regarding innovation. 

Within the table there are 4 options to chose from, the highlighted panel, option 2 is WPD's current view. 

Please select one of the 4 options within the form for each commitment, if you feel there should be alternative commitments please select option 5 and then use the free text box to specify. There is also a free text box at the bottom of table for any further commitments.  

Stakeholders identified supporting community energy projects as one of the highest priorities for WPD in relation to driving innovation and new services, given the large numbers of people in local communities it could benefit. They see a key role for community energy groups in the low carbon transition, both in terms of installing green, renewable generation but also for communities to increasingly flexibility services.

Community energy groups state they are often interested in developing low carbon technologies but tend to be slow to react to opportunities around flexibility, which stakeholders felt WPD should try and influence.

Stakeholders raised the importance of WPD providing education and support, as some groups may lack the knowledge
and expertise in relation to the energy network, with some simplification and hand-holding throughout the connections process in particular. As well as improving the availability of network information, WPD needs to help with the interpretation of data for those that may not have the required understanding of the energy industry.

Stakeholders discussed the importance of community energy projects as a base for innovation extensively, especially as it was felt that this could benefit a lot of people which would also help to share knowledge and information. In particular stakeholders would like to see projects developed specifically to ensure community energy schemes benefit from Ofgem’s Innovation funding mechanisms.

As well as supporting the low carbon transition, stakeholders can see a role for community energy schemes to help to address fuel poverty, with community energy champions able to advise their neighbours as they will be trusted and can build on the existing relationship.

Community Energy is the delivery of community-led renewable energy, energy demand reduction and energy supply
projects with the underlying objective of addressing climate change, whether they are wholly owned and/or controlled by communities, or in collaboration with commercial or public partners. These projects are a vehicle for wider social, economic and environmental benefits for the local community beyond the amount of megawatt-hours they generate.

WPD recognises that our local communities have a key role to play in achieving our net zero goals. We are committed to engaging with, and supporting our communities’ bespoke climate and energy plans with 43% of the UK’s community energy groups operating within WPD’s network area. As a result, we currently support nearly 100 community energy organisations, comprising over 12,000 members, who collectively own 100MW of renewable capacity.

Most community energy organisations have under ten volunteers and no full-time staff. They generate locally-owned, clean energy, using profits to alleviate fuel poverty, deliver energy education and engagement initiatives, and help residents save money on their energy bills. However, they also face multiple barriers including the lack of viable business models, funding, finding sites with a grid connection and they are time- and resource-poor.

As many community energy groups are largely volunteer-based, some groups struggle to keep up with rapidly developing policy and changes to our energy system. Over recent years WPD has therefore produced a number of guides and resources for community energy groups to help them make the most of our expertise, including: several guides, case studies, podcasts, FAQs, a community energy engagement hub, animations and events information.

WPD’s Net Zero Communities Strategy and action plan was published in April 2020.

You are currently completing package 3.4 regarding community energy. 

Within the table there are 4 options to chose from, the highlighted panel, option 2 is WPD's current view. 

Please select one of the 4 options within the form for each commitment, if you feel there should be alternative commitments please select option 5 and then use the free text box to specify. There is also a free text box at the bottom of table for any further commitments.