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The Midlands Power Group was delighted to host the 57th Hunter Memorial lecture at Austin Court on the 5th December 2017.  Over 60 attendees were treated to a particularly informative and thought provoking insight into the ongoing transformation of the GB energy environment delivered by two excellent speakers, John Scott, Director of Chiltern Power Limited, and Phil Lawton, Head of Practice of the Energy System Catapult.


John described how the 3D's - Decentralisation, Democratisation and Decarbonisation - are driving an ever increasing pace of change in the energy sector, including such diverse considerations as growth in electric vehicles, rapid growth in distributed renewable energy, network battery storage developments, the plethora of new players interacting with the system, inreasing reliance on data to make the system 'smart' and, by no means least, the increasing engagement of the customer in determining how and when electricity is to be used,  All these drivers are now requiring that a' whole system' perspective, including a view on what is happening 'beyond the meter', is taken when the future system is being developed.


Phil then outlined the role of the Energy System Catapult, initiated by Innovate UK and involving parties including the IET, in supporting the innovation and change programmes necessary to facilitate the transformation.  Areas of involvement include providing a perspective on 'whole system' analysis, systems integration and linking up the test and demonstration environment with the innovators.


Attendees were given an outline of the Future Power Systems Architecture (FPSA) workstream which is seeking to define the 2030 power system functionality by taking into account all technical and commercial requirements.  35 such functions have currently been identified as needing to be addressed if we are to meet the challenges of accommodating 600,000 generators, 90,000 automated devices, 60 smart cities and 15m smart homes on the power system.  John and Phil together outlined the road map for the future direction of FPSA and described some of the current activity which will inform future strategy.


The lecture closed with an appeal for all attendees to be become part of the lobby for communicating both the need for change and the benefits that will be accrued from presenting a positive perspective on why change is so important. 


As communication of engineering and technology issues and solutions is one of the key objectives of the Midlands Power Group, we would very much wish to endorse John and Phil's request for support and engagement.


Undoubtedly, this was another landmark Hunter Memorial lecture, living up to the long history of talks dealing with the challenges of the day.


On behalf of all attendees and members of the MPG, we would like to formally record our thanks to John and Phil for an excellent lecture and wish them both all the very best in their contribution to steering the course that will ultimately get us to the Transformed GB Energy System.


A copy of the slide pack from the event is available at the bottom of this blog or at the following web address: 

https://communities.theiet.org/communities/files/154/15266


Dave Swanson, Vice Chair Midlands Power Group