A six-month progress update on driving Local Net Zero

By Lynne McDonald, Head of Local Net Zero

Well, what a six months it’s been since we launched the DSO! I’m genuinely proud of how much the Local Net Zero team have achieved. We recognise we’ve only just started, and we are excited to continue our work with our local government colleagues.?

We know many of our local authorities have ambitious plans to decarbonise electricity in the areas they serve, and it is UK Power Networks' responsibility to make sure the electricity network we own and operate is Net Zero ready. More than 80% of local authorities within UK Power Networks’ licence area are aiming to be Net Zero and carbon neutral before?2050.

To support local authorities, we’ve set up a dedicated Local Net Zero team whose job is to turn their Net Zero aspirations into reality. They’re doing this through one-on-one support, help with long-term decarbonisation planning, offering guidance based on their energy industry experience and sharing key datasets.?

?Our dedicated Local Net Zero team combines people, data, and digital tools with a customer focus in all that we do. Here’s a look at some of the progress we’ve made so far on this journey.

?? People

Our newly established team of eight people are focused on helping the 133 local authorities in our regions to realise their Net Zero ambitions. The team is made up of Net Zero Associates, Analysts, Project Managers and a Product Owner with a range of skills from engineering to customer engagement – and we’re still growing!?

Old ways of thinking and doing things?don’t?cut it. We are applying the?learning from the disruptors and customer leaders, embracing agile working and design thinking to take the service we offer to our local authorities to the next level. We are committed to making a difference to their customer experience.?

Every local authority we serve is different, with their own unique characteristics, demographics and local priorities. Nothing is more valuable than having that one-on-one time and having those close conversations to tailor our services to their needs.??

We are going out and speaking to the local authorities that represent the communities we serve, from rural villages in Suffolk to inner London. This October alone we hosted 13 regional engagement sessions across London, the South East and East of England, in total attended by 240+ local authorities and local stakeholders.

?? Data

Net Zero planning is a data-driven process and local authorities told us of their challenge to access data.?Responding to this, our Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP) Open Data Page was set up to empower local authorities to have access to the data they need to support their local area energy plans.??

We’ve provided easy access to over 150+ datasets in themes shaped with input from local authorities. Over 80% of these datasets are what we describe as third party, as in those not owned by UK Power Networks, and we have curated these onto one page making it straightforward for local authorities to find at a click of a button. We’ve listened to what our customers told us at our Summer open data event, and we’re now developing podcasts and video case studies to help show people how the data we’ve published can be used to help them build their case for their Net Zero plans.?

?We’ve been really excited to see a number of local authorities with their collaborators already starting to use the LAEP open data page to make data-driven decisions. The insights that they can gather can support their plans – for example a local authority that’s prioritising improving air quality by decarbonising transport can find out the most cost-effective places to install public electric vehicle charging hubs.?

?? Digital tools

We recognise that to strengthen collaboration with local authorities, we must evolve as new technologies and innovations develop to assist data and information exchange, as well as the visualisation of that data. ?

We launched the Your Local Net Zero Hub beta program earlier this year to continually enable councils to shape the development of the tool we’re building to help them. Right from the get-go local authority users have been at the centre of tool development – real engagement means getting people involved at an early stage where you can actually listen and take their feedback on board. We have run interviews, in-depth design workshops, using collaborative ideation to visualise how the tool could work, developing prototypes and hosting user groups and moderated testing of the tool. We’re already seeing the benefits, opening the?tool to all 133 local authorities with 62 already registered.??

The Your Local Net Zero Hub is a free-to-use digital energy planning tool, developed in collaboration with local authorities, through our innovation Project CLEO, which puts the power in the hands of communities to develop Net Zero plans tailored to their unique needs.??

?? Shared understanding of local Net Zero plans

We use data forecasting?–?Distribution Future Energy Scenarios (DFES) – to understand what decarbonisation may look like under different scenarios across the local communities we serve. We share these insights with local councils, regional planning authorities, and many other stakeholders to help them create their own climate action plans.??

Our DFES planning scenario is based on the 2050 target, and we recognise that many of our local authorities have more ambitious targets. To efficiently plan where and when to invest, we need to accurately forecast and understand the latest plans for rolling out Low Carbon Technologies (such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and solar panels) and growth (like homes and buildings) across local areas. Or as we say, the What, Where, When and How.??

Through what the Local Net Zero team has to offer our dedicated people, data, and digital tools, we can continuously support and integrate?local authority plans and local intelligence to enhance our forecasts to ensure we provide a fit for purpose electricity network that facilitates local decarbonisation.

?? Partnerships

Greater London Authority

The challenges of achieving Net Zero are bigger than any one organisation or even sector can achieve alone. That’s why we believe in working together, with the public and private sectors, sharing data, skills and knowledge to build robust local plans that are going to deliver what local people want them to.?

That’s why we’ve partnered with the Greater London Authority for our engagement across London. Coming together means both organisations can bring together their knowledge and resources to support local authorities’ decarbonisation plans.??

We are actively supporting the Greater London Authority’s rollout of their Subregional LAEP approach across London and helping as they develop a LAEP Data Hub for London. This is to ensure that our datasets come from common sources and that LAEP outputs are structured in a standardised and useful way. Most importantly local authorities only need to share their plans once as part of the Subregional LAEP process – we?want to make this as simple and easy as possible.