Project Summary
This project will meet the challenge of Preparing for a Net Zero Power System, specifically accessing novel grid/system support from the operations of the drinking and wastewater networks of water utilities.
It will build on the pioneering partnership between NGED and South West Water in the FLOWERS NIA project. This feasibility project investigated the potential to adjust the timing and control of water network operations in response to the electricity network. The electricity demand shifted to different times of the day would fulfill several use cases: reducing peak demand in constrained network areas, reducing the carbon intensity of water network demand and reducing need for curtailment of renewable generation.
The aim of the project is to innovate on the interoperability between electricity and water networks to embed whole systems thinking and flexibility in the connections of water network sites to the distribution network. It will design and trial the commercial and technical process required to access operational flexibility in the pumping demand of water networks.
It will demonstrate a unique collaboration between regulated utilities which can double stack benefits for customers served by both electricity and water networks: adding a widely accessible source of flexibility to reduce constraints on existing and potentially constrained networks, while enabling water networks' drive to net zero. This collaboration would be a template for replication countrywide, allowing all UK water and distribution network connected customers to benefit from this area.
NGED will be the lead partner, continuing on in this role as the DNO lead in the initial NIA feasibility study, building on a legacy in the development, trial and rollout of flexibility.
UKPN will be the supporting DNO, with its own track record in flexibility and operating the network with significant crossover with water partners. Smart Grid Consultancy will be the main technical partner, having delivered multiple flexibility innovation projects such as Intraflex.
The water company partners will be Pennon Group (which includes South West Water, Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water), Anglian Water and Severn Trent Water. Each have experience Operating the reservoirs, treatment works, water mains and sewers within the Water Supply and Sewerage Services areas for which they are the licence holders. All are committed to achieving net zero in their operations.
Innovation Justification
Electrical demand curves from water operations align with distribution networks, with peaks in the morning and evening. Water operations are therefore a proportion of the demand at high congestion periods on distribution networks. Concurrently, water utilities have committed to achieve net zero in their operations. Due to the carbon inherent within the matter processed by water networks, net zero solutions for water utilities must include off set, a proportion of which will be connecting or enabling additional renewable generation.
UK water networks have historically had low participation in DNO flexibility, as the financial benefits from flexibility products do not provide sufficient incentive for them to do so. This project aims to solve this problem by developing a new kind of fflexibility embedded within the timing and control of water network pumping. Unlike electricity demand, where distribution can only take place as electrical energy is consumed, water pumping only needs to take place such that water is available at time of consumption or treatment. This latency between pumping and consumption can potentially be exploited through a novel partnership between DNO and water utility in which the carbon benefits and renewable generation capacity unlocked are provided back to water networks to set against net zero targets.
As such, the project will pilot two core innovations: the technical and operational process for embedding this flexibility, and the commercial agreement which enables it. FLOWERS has produced initial learning on the feasibility of these innovations. However, the assumptions of replicability across the UK need to be tested and there was no real-life demonstration. Doing so carries significant risk due to the technical challenges to be overcome, such as coordinating between up and downstream water sites or accurately forecasting generation intensity and risk of curtailment.
These innovations are significantly different than typical DNO flexibility procurement, and the development of this capability is not within the capacity of these BAU activities.
FLOWERS has identified between 18 and 34 MW of potential flexible demand on SWW's network alone, estimating a potential value of around E5,OOO per hour at the most common current flexibility product rate. With the incentives described above, this value would be a saving when compared with procuring the same amount of flexibility at that rate. Furthermore, aligning pump demand with peak generation has the potential to reduce the cost of increase the capacity for and penetration of distributed energy resources.
Project Benefits
There are a variety of consumer benefits outlined below.
Flexibility first: Unlocking new flexibility capacity will support networks choosing the most cost-effective option to provide network capacity, which will minimize network costs for all consumers.
Net zero: Electricity network consumers are in nearly every circumstance also water network consumers. This project will alleviate the carbon intensity of the electricity and offset water network emissions, double stacking benefits for consumers.
Whole system: Breaking down the silos between industries through innovative collaboration increases whole system capability, ensuring the infrastructure of the future works harmoniously to deliver for consumers.
Intelligence: The data analysis and forecasting capability that will be developed to enable this type of flexibility will increase capacity to dynamically model the impacts of water networks on electricity networks, and the vice versa.
Environment: Supporting the connection of local generation to water networks will strengthen the resilience of water site electrical plant, reducing the likelihood of incidents.
Metrics: Flexibility capacity unlocked will be measured in the available MW and MWh of water network demand that can be shifted out of peak periods, and the value of this capacity. In the FLOWERS NIA, a methodology was developed for estimating this capacity across South West Water's network, identifying a value of approximately E5,OOO per hour of utilization of this flexibility. This methodology will be applied to the additional partners in this project. These metrics will be validated and tested during the Alpha and Beta phases.
Direct C02 emissions will be measured using tools such as NGED's Carbon Tracer and National Grid ESO's Carbon Intensity API. The carbon intensity of the times the flexed electricity would be consumed with and without the initiatives engaged will be compared, with the C02 saving being the difference between the two. In Discovery/Alpha, this will use the estimation of the flexible capacity compared against historic carbon intensity data. In Beta, this would be the actual demand shifted against contemporaneous carbon intensity data.
Best practice for measuring Indirect C02 emissions is still emergent, and this project will keep abreast of developments in methodologies for calculating the marginal impact of flexibility on the generation mix of the UK grid. An approach using the BEIS levelised cost of energy method will also be considered.
New market creation will be measured by the adoption of the alternative connection approach by DNOs, and the capacity obtained under this scheme.
Learnings
Impacts And Benefits
The assessment of benefits was progressed in Discovery by validating and extrapolating on the quantitative assessment methodology developed in FLOWERS for the water network demand that could be shifted through operative flexibility. Using number of customers as a baseline, this scales UK wide to theoretically 94MW to 1GW of load shifting across multiple use cases from the water industry.
Benefits in terms of CO2e emissions reduction could be realised by the assumed proportion of annual water utility energy demand (MWh) which can be shifted from energy at the grid carbon intensity to zero carbon energy from the local water utility owned generator. Assuming an average of 2 hourly events per week shifting 1.25% of total annual energy usage would result in between 13.6kTCO2e and 7.6kTCO2e of annual CO2e emissions reduction between 2026 and 2030.
The benefits case focuses on carbon emissions, as this is the incentive structure around which water networks embedding operational flexibility. Carbon emissions are also a clear net benefit traceable to both electricity and water network customers (who are frequently the same people). The estimated NPV for this application is positive for this benefit alone. However, this does not mean that this is the sole potential benefit of the project. There are additional benefits considered for this project, which include:
- Reduced flexibility procurement costs, as a MWh of load shifting achieved through operational flexibility is a MWh that potentially need not be procured through flexibility platforms.
- Benefits in terms of reduced electricity load related expenditure realised through the reduction of generated power (MW) exported to the grid, thus reducing the need to expend money on load as relates to the target connection of 3GW of renewable generation at water utility sites across the UK by 2030.
- Change in the timing or increase in capacity of the target 3GW of renewable generation
connected at water utility sites.
- Reductions in SCR related curtailment expenditure due to increased utilisation of generation.
