DSO Newsletter - May 2024 Edition

We are thrilled to share some major milestones and exciting updates from our Distribution System Operations (DSO) team. Recently, we submitted our?2024?DSO?Submission?to Ofgem, detailing our progress, innovations, and future ambitions. This edition of the?newsletter?will highlight key achievements from our report and outline how we're shaping the future of energy distribution.?

Significant Progress and Innovations

Over the past year, our team has made remarkable strides in enhancing data sharing and visibility. We've successfully scaled up our flexibility procurement, securing over 700MW of additional flexibility services. This achievement not only improves market confidence but also defers significant reinforcement costs, saving ￡44 million across the ED2 period (our current price control).

Collaborations and Community Engagement

Our efforts to support local authorities and communities on their journey to net zero have been particularly noteworthy. We've developed the?Local Energy Net Zero Accelerator (LENZA) tool, now available to all 63 local authorities in our regions. This tool empowers councils to make informed decisions about new energy assets, contributing to their Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs).?

Enhancing Network Visibility

We continue to lead in network visibility and data provision. Our NeRDA (Near Real-time Data Access) platform has been a game-changer, offering near real-time data on power flows and voltages, with over 20,000 data points published. This transparency enables better planning, operational efficiency, and market participation.

Focus on Flexibility and Inclusion

Our commitment to flexibility and an inclusive energy transition is at the heart of our strategy. We've launched the HOMEFlex initiative to ensure domestic flexibility markets are fair and transparent. Additionally, we've appointed 12 Net Zero Advisors to support local authorities, ensuring no community is left behind in the energy transition.

Looking Ahead

As we move forward, our focus remains on refining our flexibility roadmap, enhancing our data-sharing capabilities, and fostering strong collaborations with stakeholders. We're excited about the future and confident that our continued efforts will drive significant benefits for our customers and the broader energy system.

Thank you for being a part of our journey. We value your feedback and encourage you to get in touch with our?DSO?team at?[email protected].

With best wishes,

Andrew Roper CEng FIET

DSO?Director

New video series

We've produced a brand new series of?DSO?explainer videos from Melanie Bryce our Head of Network and Market Development.

Click to watch the full series here

Latest News

Meet our newly formed?DSO?Advisory Board

How will communities and stakeholders know that SSEN Distribution is making good decisions on your behalf??

This is where the?DSO?Advisory Board comes in. It will meet four times a year, and report annually.

The board brings together a group of impressive individuals with diverse and highly relevant sets of skills. Around the table are experts in consumer engagement, community energy, energy markets and system operation, energy policy, and law.

Meet the board members

SSEN selects Electron’s next-generation flexibility market platform to power its continued growth?

We have selected Electron 's 'ElectronConnect' platform to enhance our procurement of Flexibility Services. This next-generation platform will streamline operations and unlock greater value from flexibility across our networks. The partnership marks a significant step in our digitalisation efforts, supporting our net zero transition and offering new opportunities for both long-term and short-term flexibility services.

Learn more

DSO incentive survey

We recently reached out to some of you with an invitation to take part in our DSO Survey. This is an opportunity to share your feedback as a DSO stakeholder. As a reminder, the opportunity to provide feedback is still open.

We would appreciate if you could take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete a short online survey about your experiences with SSEN. This will help SSEN respond to the needs of its stakeholders and improve service levels.

The deadline for survey submission is tomorrow (31st May 2024.)

How to get involved

Operational Decision Making (ODM) Webinar

The purpose of the Operational Decision Making (ODM) Webinar is to provide an overview of how SSEN makes dispatch decisions and the principles that guide us. Additionally, we are eager to engage with stakeholders to gather feedback on emerging topics of interest, as outlined in our Seasonal Operability Reports throughout the year.

Sign up

SSEN Connections Innovative Design & Technical Policy Comms Webinar

We want to engage with our stakeholders more to get their ideas and suggestions for innovative design and technical policy. ?Therefore, we have set up quarterly meetings to enable discussion with the aim of getting a joint understanding of where we want to get to in the future.

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SSEN Bio-Diversity Webinar

This online event is designed to assist our suppliers in aligning with our Sustainable Supplier Code and implementing best practices for biodiversity.

Webinar Highlights Include: The Business Case for Biodiversity SSEN Distribution Ambitions Compliance and Best Practices.

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