Planning and Network Development

Planning and Network Development looks years into the future to establish where, when, and how much network capacity we need to add to accommodate customer growth, and how best to deliver that.

Our vision is better, more accurate, and more informed system planning, which is integrated with the local system planner, who helps determine our need and refine the work that needs to go in the future energy scenarios. Our Distribution Future Energy Scenarios set out the engineering design of the network, however, to develop these scenarios, we need to understand the behaviours and ambitions of our customers and stakeholders. Our ability to accurately predict the needs of our network relies on collaboration with everyone seeking to access and use our network.

We have also developed industry leading tools that optimise the investment plan for our network in real time and can also support stakeholders in understanding how to optimise their decisions.

About

About Planning and Network Development

The primary role of our network planning function is to provide the distribution network capacity our customers need in a safe, efficient, and timely manner. The capacity customers need is forecast to materially increase over the coming years as they electrify their transport and heating as they decarbonise to Net Zero.

Forecasts and modelling show that, in many areas of the network, the existing network capacity is insufficient to accommodate this growth. We have a range of intervention options which can help us provide more capacity, including flexibility services, smart solutions, and network reinforcement. For every location where there will be insufficient network capacity to meet customer needs, we have a decision to make – how should we best intervene to provide the capacity?

We have developed our Decision Making Framework which sets out the process we follow in order to establish where, when, and how we should provide capacity, which is set out below.

Forecasting - We develop our network to accommodate our customers’ demand and generation requirements. The first stage is to understand our customers’ requirements over the coming decades.
Network assessment - We enter forecasts into an industry-leading model of our network and run analysis which shows us how the forecast customer growth will impact the network – including where additional network capacity is required.
Options assessment - Where additional network capacity is required, we impartially assess solutions against defined criteria to identify the optimal solution, including consideration of flexibility where it is a viable option.
Flexibility tendering - We tender for flexibility services to confirm their availability and cost where it has been deemed to be a viable option.
Intervention decision - Where sufficient flexibility services has been identified; we proceed to contract these services. Where flexibility is not deemed to be a viable solution, we develop the alternative, but continue to re-tender for flexibility services before commencing delivery.

You can read more about each of these stages in our process within our published Decision Making Framework.

Team

Malcolm Bebbington - Head of Network Planning:

'‘’’Malcolm leads the Network Planning team at SP Energy Networks, responsible for ensuring our distribution networks are ready for a decarbonised future. This includes ensuring they have sufficient capacity, are smarter and more flexible, and that they maintain their high levels of reliability as our customers become increasingly dependent on their electricity supply. Malcolm’s responsibilities include the strategic design and development of the distribution network, including forecasting, network investment plans, flexibility requirements, and establishing the DSO network architecture. Malcolm has over 25-years’ experience in the electricity industry across network planning, asset management, and regulatory business plan preparation. ’’

Russell Bryans - System Design and Development Manager:

'‘’’Russell leads the System Design team, responsible for identifying and providing the network capacity our customers need to decarbonise. This includes forecasting our customers’ requirements, systematic network assessments to identify the future capacity needed to accommodate these, development of network investment plans, and specification of flexibility tender requirements. Russell has over 15-years’ experience in electricity distribution network planning, including leading the development of our RIIO-ED2 Load Related business plan.’’

Kailash Singh – Head of Distribution Network Connections

'‘’’Kailash leads the Distribution Connections team, responsible for the design and development of major customer connections. This includes interfacing with customers and developing network solutions that meet their connection needs, and wider industry engagement including with transmission system and network operators. Kailash has over 15-years of global experience in distribution and transmission network planning, industrial systems, and substation design."

Our Documents

Useful Planning and Network Development Documents

Engineering Justification Papers

Long Term Development Statement (LTDS)

Distribution Future Energy Scenarios (DFES)

Network Development Plan (NDP)

Network Visibility Strategy

Contact Us

We would welcome any feedback or comments on our plans. Please contact our Planning and Network Development Team at: systemdesignteam@spenergynetworks.co.uk