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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA_UKPN0045
Title	Shift
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Energy Efficiency(Transport) 25%; Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 75%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given UK Power Networks
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 January 2019
End Date	31 October 2021
Duration	ENA months
Total Grant Value	£1,295,500
Industrial Sectors	Power
Region	London
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , UK Power Networks (100.000%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , UK Power Networks (0.000%)
Web Site	https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA_UKPN0045
Objectives	Smart charging has the potential to unlock flexibility that will help defer reinforcement. The SmartCAR project has shown that market led approaches to smart charging have the ability to provide the necessary response to network needs. This project will investigate how market led approaches can work in practise and specifically, how DNOs can enable the market to manage smart charging in response to price signals.Since the preliminary CBA for Shift was delivered in 2019, a separate UK Power Networks project to deliver a more advanced forecasting tool was commenced and this is now nearing completion. The tool will be capable of modelling the impact of electric vehicles and smart charging on the LV network and will more accurately assess the potential for smart charging to address LV constraints than the original approach proposed for Shift. As well as develop inputs to the forecasting tool, Shift will carry out analysis to compare the three mechanisms trialled.The Shift project duration has been extended by six months so the newly developed forecasting tool can be used for the Shift CBA which will lead to more robust results. Shift will be responsible for developing inputs into the forecasting tool. Analysis originally planned to assess and compare the three mechanisms trialled will continue as planned. To account for the more efficient approach to the CBA, a greater focus will be given to assessing the customer behaviour and the impact of coronavirus. The project extention can be accomodated within the existing Shift project budget. Smart Charging Market Trials will run trials to investigate market-led approaches to smart charging, identified through SmartCAR project. These could include for example:1. Price-based mechanisms (ToU DUoS bundled together with capacity prices)2. Procurement mechanisms (Flexibility procurement bundled together with third party load management)UK Power Networks will engage and work with project partners to develop customer propositions that deliver against network needs, and design and implement the commercial, technical and regulatory mechanisms required to support them. Structured trial phases will then be carried out to develop reliable datasets that can be used to inform industry decision making. Learning will be disseminated via reports and engagement events/meetings. This project aims to:1. Stimulate the development of market-led smart charging solutions, working with market participants to develop, enable and trial attractive customer propositions2. Develop and test processes, systems components and commercial arrangements to enable these propositions3. Understand customer response to the designed propositions and network impacts in a controlled environment4. Develop a scalable solution that can be expanded to a larger volume of customers and drive benefit ahead of regulatory reforms, and5. Inform Ofgems longer-term access and network charging reform.
Abstract	Electric vehicle (EV) uptake is set to surge, and to enable this we must either reinforce the network or will need customers to be flexible around when they charge their cars. Indicatively, without flexible arrangements, we expect to see peak demand growing approximately up to 10% at secondary substations by the end of RIIO-ED1 and up to 30% by the end of the 2030s. This is based on the load impact analysis done at Recharge the Future project at primary substation level, which was then translated into secondary substation level. The majority of this growth will be driven by the uptake of EVs connecting to the LV network. This is an unprecedented pace of growth that will require a step-change in the way we manage the LV network. In the absence of smart solutions, this growth in demand will trigger the need for reinforcement on the network which will be paid by network customers. UK Power Networks is strategically looking at procuring flexibility as alternative to traditional reinforcement and is adopting a flexibility first approach to delivering additional network capacity, which will lead to lower costs and increased renewable energy on the network through more competition. In this context, UK Power Networks has a key role in stimulating the market for flexible services and helping to reduce customers bills.Specifically, smart charging of EVs has the potential to unlock flexibility at LV level, therefore deferring a proportion of the required reinforcement associated with the uptake of EVs. UK Power Networks project Smart Charging Architecture Roadmap (SmartCAR) has developed feasible designs for market-led smart charging. However, this has not yet been demonstrated in practice, therefore it is now the time to engage with the market and mobilise trials to explore how these designs will work in reality, and to deploy the smart solutions required on network level to enable smart charging.
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	02/11/22