Join Caroline Blair in Episode 2 of Powering Conversations as she dives into the future of energy with three industry experts: Nia Lowe, DSO Lead at SP Energy Networks, Grant Spence, Director at Net Zero Energy Systems, and David Flynn, Professor at the University of Glasgow.
Discover the exciting transition from Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to Distribution System Operator (DSO). This episode unravels the complexities of our evolving electricity system, highlighting how we must dynamically balance supply and demand to achieve Net Zero.
Learn what this means for you as a customer and explore the crucial role of data and digital capabilities in transforming our grid. Get ready for an insightful discussion on the future of energy distribution and its transformational impact on our world.
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Episode Speakers
Nia Lowe, a Chartered Engineer and certified six-sigma black belt, has worked for SP Energy Networks for 30 years gaining a wealth of experience across a wide range of roles including Asset Management, System Design, Operational Management, Connections, Business Change, Strategic Workforce Planning and Regulation and Policy.
Currently DSO Lead, Nia brings that wealth of experience to the challenges and opportunities we face as an industry as we move forward to Net Zero.
Grant has over 30 years’ experience working in the power and energy sectors, focused over the past 20 years in the development and delivery of large, complex and novel multi-billion pound low carbon energy and infrastructure projects and programmes. From leading the Owner’s Engineer team on the ScottishPower CCS Consortium’s Longannet CCS project in the late 2000s, to facilitating delivery of the North East Wales Industrial Decarbonisation (NEWID) project with SP Energy Networks and Wales & West Utilities in 2024.
Currently, Grant is Chair of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE’s) Power Industries Division Board, a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET’s) Sustainability and Net Zero Policy Centre, and is representing the IET on the Welsh Government’s Independent Advisory Group on Future Electricity Grid for Wales.
Being an internationally recognised expert in cyber physical systems, with a career that encompasses academia, entrepreneurship, industrial innovation, as well as national and international policy advisement in engineering and technology, David's motivation across these diverse but interdependent roles remains constant: How can we deliver an inclusive, resilient and prosperous energy transition in response to the climate crisis?
Currently, David is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and Professor of Cyber Physical Systems at the University of Glasgow. Additionally, he is a member of the SP Energy Networks' Independent Net Zero Advisory Council.