An OpenLV Participant Workshop took place at the SS Great Britain in Bristol on 20th November 2019, which brought together partners and participants to share learning from the project.
The event looked at the benefits that the trial participants had gained from ‘open’ access to electricity data from substations on local low voltage networks. Such data has shown how much capacity is available on networks. The project has also been able to join substations together to provide more capacity at peak times.
Community groups, businesses and academia taking part in the project commented that it was extremely useful to have gained access to data from substations – the first time that this has ever happened. Outcomes range from communities having a much greater awareness about their energy use – and therefore now being able to plan more effectively for installing renewable energy such as solar PV – to businesses developing systems to better manage the impact of increasing numbers of electric vehicles on the grid.
Sam Rossi Ashton, WPD’s OpenLV Project Manager, explained how energy systems are changing, and that more real-time control is needed to deliver our energy. OpenLV has the potential to allow the development of new business models that could help us achieve the UK’s 2050 net zero emissions targets.
The main trial element of the OpenLV project has now been completed, and a final report is due in 2020.
A video was filmed at the event to summarise the outcomes of the project to date, which will be available very soon, so keep checking this website!
