Project Summary
Planning Regional Infrastructure in a Digital Environment (PRIDE) combines novel governance structures with a cutting-edge digital tool that lets local authorities, energy networks and regional stakeholders collaborate to deliver local and regional decarbonisation ambitions. The digital tool supports local authorities and networks to quickly and cost-effectively share detailed information to inform planning and investment activities. The governance structure then bring together local and regional stakeholders - informed by data in the digital tool - to work together to make more informed strategic decisions, accelerating net-zero delivery.
Innovation Justification
PRIDE develops technical and political solutions to integrated energy system planning to facilitate connection of decarbonised heat and transport demand, reducing overall cost and timescales (Round 2, Challenge 4). The Beta phase will establish dynamic governance and information sharing mechanisms to unlock integrated local-regional energy planning and investment.
PRIDE Alpha demonstrated the value of digital tools to support agile, cost-effective energy planning within local authorities and between local authorities and networks in the West Midlands Combined Authority area. This phase established two stakeholder governance panels to support identification and collaboration on regional energy opportunities.
Key lessons:
- The digital tool enabled cost-effective LAEP development, but data coverage and interoperability are barriers to collaboration, slowing investment.
- The governance mechanism can support local-regional collaboration, but there is a need to test this on a wider scale and in different settings to demonstrate replicability.
Beta builds on these to:
- Break down interoperability barriers between networks and local authorities and enable more iterative information sharing within the digital platform.
- Incorporate and enhance low-voltage data from gas networks, heat network zones, industrial clusters, and network scenario modelling.
- Develop functionality and test governance to support regional aggregation of plans across geographies, including: the wider (RESP) West Midlands; South Wales where static LAEPs have been developed; and Oxfordshire where multiple networks operate in a single area.
Learning from the other projects include:
- LEO-N facilitates integrated energy demand decarbonisation at a hyper-local level, adopting similar principles to PRIDE for behind-the-meter solutions. PRIDE is in close contact with LEO-N, leveraging insights from its street- and county-level coordination activities.
- Powering Wales Renewably (PWR) develops a digital twin of transmission and distribution in Wales. PWR Discovery identified a need for data standardisation, and highlighted that governance is a key component of integrated planning which we are building on.
- NIA projects RESOP, Equinox, Defender, Venice and EPIC provide lessons on flexibility, energy efficiency impacts, integrated future load profiles.
We actively engaged stakeholders throughout Alpha maximise value from our innovation. Ofgem and NESO were closely involved in all activities to challenge assumptions (both ways), enabling our innovation to respond to and inform real-time policy and regulatory change.
We conducted ongoing engagement with project partners (local authorities, regional infrastructure providers) so that the innovation could iterate to reflect their needs as they evolved.
Open promotion of project activities through the Energy Capital Partnership and sector forums has resulted in significant interest from new local authorities and stakeholders.
PROJECT INNOVATIONS
The digital platform has shifted from TRL5 in Discovery to TRL7 today (TRL8 by the end of Beta)
A limited number of tools/processes exist for cost-effective LAEP development and dynamic information sharing between networks, local authorities and other stakeholders. PRIDE is unlocking this functionality for effective integrated decarbonisation planning.
No consistent processes exist for integrated local-regional information exchange and decision making. PRIDE Beta will establish replicable governance and information sharing processes which facilitate aggregation of integrated plans to regional level in different areas and demonstrate how this can enable multi-vector investment decisions about local and regional energy priorities.
WHY PROJECT CANNOT BE FUNDED ELSEWHERE
PRIDE Beta enables testing of solutions at meaningful scales by the DSO before their adoption by other network operators. The trial of new governance and information sharing mechanisms are not suitable for exploration under business-as-usual and there is no other funding stream that supports development of systems for multi-vector energy planning and network impacts.
COUNTERFACTUAL
The counterfactual solution requires the use of consulting engineers to replace the missing local authority skills and capacity. This approach is significantly more costly and fails to grow and embed skills and capacity in local authorities. No funding models exist for ongoing consultant support and non-digital human-resource based approaches are unsustainable.
Impacts and Benefits
CURRENT POSITION AND INNOVATION MERICS
From a technical perspective a limited number of digital tools are provided by DNOs to support local authorities such as open data portals. However, these tools do not support the requirements of the use case of LAEPs explored in this project. Current digital tools have limited impact because they have no analytical functions and have limited low voltage data visibility. Current tools neither provide a collaborative workspace, nor support larger portfolios of projects, nor scenario nor the development of decarbonisation pathways.
From an organisational perspective, networks engage with local authorities and developers on an uncoordinated bilateral process. Local Authorities have no statutory duty or funding to coordinate LAEPs. And coordination between place-based actors is beyond their skill and capacity. The WMCA under the framework of devolution is requesting these powers be devolved to the regions. While the RESP is being established to support coordination within regions.
The innovation metric used to calculate the benefits is the increased rate of deployment of low carbon technologies. The benefits calculations assume between 2%-15% increase in the deployment rate of these technologies. Leading indicators of success are the increase in the maturity model of local authority skills and capabilities which will be measured by observational research of the ability non-technical users to complete technical tasks.
BENEFITS FORECAST
Deployment of the solution nationwide across all network operators has a NPV of £194million and a benefit to cost ratio of 4.3 through to the end of the ED3 period. These benefits sit within the £51billion of benefits of a placed-based energy transition identified in the Accelerating Net Zero Delivery Report (InnovateUK & PwC 2022). The report compared the energy transition under a place-agnostic and place-based scenario between 2022-2050.
Financial Benefits to Networks: We have identified three sources of net financial benefits accruing to Networks totalling £10.6million through to the end of the ED3 period (CBA items 3.1-3.3). These benefits are derived from the reduced cost to serve customer connection requests, LAEP support activity and aligning strategic investment with future demand.
Societal Benefits to Local Authorities and citizens: We have identified fourteen sources of benefits accruing to Local Authorities and citizens totalling £183million through to the end of the ED3 period (CBA items 1.1-1.6, 2.1-2.6, and 4.1-4.2). These benefits are derived from the rate of deployment of low carbon technologies, releasing capital from the private sector, and reducing spending on external support for low carbon technology deployment.
CONFIDENCE AND SENSITIVTY ANALYSIS
Of the £194million of benefits, £12million are high confidence and £183million are medium confidence. High confidence benefits are those within the financial control Networks. Medium confidence benefits are those influenced by Local Authorities. The benefits are most sensitive to the nationwide adoption rate of the innovation which assumes a 50% penetration by 2028. Delaying this figure by one year reduces net benefits by £18million. Further analysis will be undertaken during the project to reduce the uncertainty of this sensitivity to the adoption rate.
BENEFITS REALISED TO DATE
WMCA has accelerated the delivery of LAEP across 5 districts under the Alpha trial. It has evidenced the compatibility of its governance model with the RESP, engaged both NGED and ESO within working groups and held a series of stakeholder workshops to obtain senior political support for the Beta phase. WMCA will build on learning from the PfER RESO (Regional Energy System Operator) and SIF PRIDE Discovery and Alpha phase to advise Ofgem through their consultation processes on how a Regional Energy System Planner (RESP) may operate effectively and work with its stakeholders to acheive its multi-vector, regional goals
