On 12th October, the IET Midlands Power Group were delighted to hold the annual Professor Toby Norris Memorial Lecture at Aston University. The venue was particularly pertinent as Professor Norris had a long connection with the university as Professor of Electrical Power Engineering and subsequently Emeritus Professor until his retirement in 2003.
We were pleased to welcome another Aston Alumni, Andrew Roper, Director of Engineering and Investment at Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks, who delivered an excellent talk on Opportunities for Innovative Asset Management in the Transition to Distribution System Operator. Andrew described the challenges facing Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) as the nature of electricity supply at both local and regional level changes rapidly, outlining the approach SSE is taking to implement the Distribution System Operator (DSO) function using the ever increasing amount of data available.
Andrew outlined what the DSO is and what it does to ensure continued reliable and cost effective supply of electricity to the customers. He also explained the importance of flexibility to reflect the changing energy sector, considering the rapid increase in local generation connected to the 132kV and below system, the introduction of storage on the networks and the challenges arising from the increasing numbers of electric vehicles. Andrew went on to describe the particular issues around overlaying this change on a largely aging asset base and the importance of gathering real time data to support DSO decision making.
The MPG would like to thank Andrew for his excellent presentation and his most informative response to the many questions raised by the audience of around 50 people including many new students recently commencing their studies at Aston. Our thanks also go to Aston University for kindly hosting the event and laying on an excellent buffet.
A copy of Andrew’s slides is available at https://communities.theiet.org/communities/files/154/14962