INNOVATION REVIEW 2017/18
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WE ARE THE A WORD ENERGY INNOVATION CENTRE FROM OUR (EIC) MD AND CHAIRMAN
ESTABLISHED EMBEDDED DENISE MASSEY With more than ten years of experience linking The EIC works with a number of major energy and Managing Director industry and innovators, the Energy Innovation utility companies. They are our founders and we The EIC is a unique proposition – and one that is needed now more than ever. Centre (EIC) is established, expert and enjoy a unique understanding of their needs and recognised by regulators. For ten years we have been bridging the gap between large networks and a shared culture of innovation. We bring focus, small-scale SMEs, consistently providing an established route to market for control, access and accountability for our partners innovative ideas and technologies. and for industry regulators. PROVEN A conduit for ideas and a vehicle for third party engagement with a highly skilled To date we have delivered in excess of team, we really do pack a big innovation punch when you consider we only have 18 people on our staff. This equates to the equivalent of just 1.5 full time network 150 innovation projects and COMMUNITY operator employees per partner license. brokered £22 million of investment Our 2000+ strong global innovation for the energy industry. community is diverse, driven and dynamic. 2017/18 saw continued growth for our innovators and our industry partners. Informed and engaged, they are primed to meet We were also honoured and humbled to welcome Tony Cocker as our new the challenges set by the energy industry and Chairman. Tony brings with him a wealth of commercial and customer experience TRUSTED consistently deliver game-changing results and gained from leading a major energy supplier which will inform and guide the EIC in the coming years. Not for profit but ambitious, the EIC is an honest compelling cost savings. innovation broker, supporting thousands of SMEs from around the world to meet the challenges faced by industry and enabling UK Plc to thrive. TONY COCKER Chairman ECONOMICAL The EIC is good value for money and packs a big I am privileged to take up the role of EIC Chairman at such an important innovation punch. Committed to the acceleration time for the organisation. I strongly endorse the EIC’s values and have been of innovation not stakeholder returns, our small impressed by the successes achieved through their collaborative innovation but skilled team is unparalleled in the industry. model. We manage multiple projects and an extensive ENERGY innovator and industry network as well as I look forward to helping to drive forward our mission of helping energy keeping abreast of regulatory requirements and INNOVATION and utilities companies to implement cutting-edge innovation in order to demonstrate unprecedented economies of scale. CENTRE ultimately improve the quality of people’s lives.
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BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS: our research report in conjunction with Energy Systems Catapult - Helping SMEs to EOIs REQUESTED access the energy industry – put industry 480 BY INNOVATORS* relationships with innovators under the microscope PROPOSALS SUBMITTED BY MEANINGFUL INNOVATION
INNOVATORS MEASUREMENT: 148 mindful of RIIO2 and Ofgem’s requirements, we began to develop an outcome-based, 2017/18 CALLS FOR industry-wide innovation measurement AT A GLANCE INNOVATION framework in conjunction with our 34 LAUNCHED industry partners OUR YEAR IN TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: A NUTSHELL the 2017 UK Energy Innovation Awards were a success and we added a pre-event SIGNED PROJECTS spin-off ‘safari’ of expert talks, cutting-edge AND TRIALS technology and game-changing meetings to 2017/18 WAS A FRUITFUL 34 the mix for the first time YEAR AT THE EIC. ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: WE SCOUTED FOR Our Big Gas Challenge at the Low Carbon BRIGHT IDEAS, BROUGHT INDUSTRY Networks & Innovation Conference explored PARTNERS the Gas Network Innovation Strategy and THE RIGHT PEOPLE 9 discussed why collaborative innovation will TOGETHER, EXPLORED be critical to its success THE CHALLENGES THAT IMPACT OUR COLLECTIVE FUTURE AND SHAPED SHARED GOALS. 3 2 1 INNOVATION BLAST OFF: 19 LABS HELD WE GO DIGITAL WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE EICHUB.COM THE NEW PLACE FOR INNOVATORS AND INDUSTRY TO MEET ONLINE INNOVATORS AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS ENJOYING *Expressions of Interest THE UK ENERGY INNOVATION AWARDS 2017 06 | ENERGY INNOVATION CENTRE INNOVATION REVIEW | 2017/18 07
INNOVATION BECOMES SECOND NATURE Working with a specialist SME to 16 deploy a team of detection dogs to 2017/18 identify underground faults was an 23 MARKET READY EIC first in 2017 and has proved very PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS successful. EVENTS To date, a demonstration for our SHINING A LIGHT DISCOVERED industry partners and a three day ATTENDED live trial with the SP Energy ON OUR Networks jointing team in Glasgow have been carried out to explore ACHIEVEMENTS the possibility of using dogs in routine operational searches. OVER THE PUTTING PEOPLE PAST YEAR 82% FIRST CALLS SHARING CRITICAL Utility companies across the North LEARNING East and Yorkshire and the EIC SUCCESS RATE* worked together on a collaborative A joint project involving the piece of research to better development of a gas probe understand the impact of utility OUR WORK IS POWERED BY that can be deployed inside a maintenance, replacement INTEGRITY AND INNOVATION. cable duct to locate the source and repair activities on local DEVELOPMENT of a gas leak, served to underline communities. THROUGH A DEEP PROPOSALS the value of facilitated collaboration 24 for our industry partners. The project delivered the first ever UNDERSTANDING OF OUR FOR cross-utility industry investigation INDUSTRY PARTNERS AND The Optomole project close down into the social impact of network OUR INNOVATION COMMUNITY INNOVATION review provided valuable time interventions on communities, to share best practice, better exploring appropriate metrics DETECTION DOG JACK SET AND UNPRECEDENTED PROJECTS understand differences in for assessment and how innovation TO WORK ON A TRIAL WITH SP ENERGY NETWORKS ACCESS TO BOTH, operational practices, acknowledge can used to maximise benefits, WE ARE ABLE TO FOSTER the importance of collaboration and reduced negative effects and MEANINGFUL learn from one another. drive up productivity. COLLABORATION AND DELIVER RELEVANT, 10 “Without the EIC helping the GDNs to collaborate and supporting the SME through the EFFECTIVE AND process, the Optomole project would have proved very challenging. It is critical to TRANSFORMATIVE NEW PROJECTS manage the expectations of the SMEs we work with and the EIC, as an honest broker, INNOVATION PROJECTS. FROM CALLS is always able to do this”
*Success defined as call resulting in project ADAM HASSALL - CADENT INNOVATION PROJECT DELIVERY MANAGER 08 | ENERGY INNOVATION CENTRE INNOVATION REVIEW | 2017/18 09
OUR INNOVATION INTRODUCING OUR COMMUNITY 387 INNOVATOR IMPACT LINKING SMALL PANEL BUSINESSES WITH NEW INNOVATORS IN OUR We value the views of our INDUSTRY TO COMMUNITY innovation community and are ACCELERATE committed to giving them a voice INNOVATION
Our innovation community of 2000+ SMEs from 24 around the world are diverse, driven and dynamic. We work in close partnership with the Energy Systems Catapult to make sure INNOVATIONS our innovators are primed to meet the challenges set by industry and are able to PRESENTED TO deliver impactful results. INDUSTRY IAIN CHIRNSIDE GRAHAM OAKES PAUL ANDREWS STEER ENERGY UPSIDE ENERGY LTD. OAKTEC What changes would you make to What disruptive technologies What issues would you like to the industry to improve the uptake do you think will have the see the regulator tackle in the of innovation? biggest impact on the coming years? 5 industry? Ensuring that funding is not only Environment, energy efficiency, available for development and field Social and economic trends to reliability of supply and a fair INNOVATIONS trials, but in specific cases also for adopt existing tech will have cost to the customer. the initial uses as ‘business as usual’. a far greater impact than new DELIVERED Often technologies stall here due to technologies. the lack of confidence in new ideas INTO BUSINESS and the effort it takes to change The energy system is currently normal practice. Encourage the extremely data poor (especially AS USUAL industry to make peace with failure! when compared to telecoms or Innovation, by its very nature, should financial services) so the be ambitious and challenging - biggest change will be in we all need to accept that there will adopting new mechanisms to be a high degree of risk involved in gather data and use it to drive this and therefore have a balanced decisions, from real-time to portfolio of technologies that are long term planning. funded by the industry. 10 | ENERGY INNOVATION CENTRE INNOVATION REVIEW | 2017/18 11
OUR PROJECTS PROJECT ABOVE & BEYOND FLAGSHIP THE SKY IS CASE STUDY: To fully realise the benefits that PATHFINDER THE LIMIT drones can bring to routine network A UK first and a designated UK The benefits of creating a tasks such as pipeline or overhead FLAGSHIP PAVING THE WAY government Pathfinder project, standardised provision for drone line inspections, there is a this initiative has the potential to operation across the UK’s gas and FOR NETWORK-WIDE requirement to fly ‘beyond visual PROGRAMMES transform the regulatory electricity networks are significant. line of sight’ (BVLOS). Flying drones BVLOS DRONE environment for certain drone FOR 2017/18 BVLOS means greater distances can applications that will be of benefit OPERATIONS be covered, challenging terrains Essentially, the use of drones will AND BEYOND can be accessed more easily and to the UK gas and electricity allow routine and non-routine inspections can be mobilised distribution networks. inspections to be carried out The aerial inspection of more quickly. quicker, easier and cheaper than network infrastructure is a The project is supported by the ever before. costly necessity for the UK’s The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Transport Systems Catapult and gas and electricity distribution the UK’s specialist aviation maintains close links with the CAA, networks and usually involves regulator, has stated that their the Department for Transport and the deployment of piloted current regulations would support the Department for Business, helicopters or the use of the flying of drones BVLOS but Energy & Industrial Strategy, as scaffolds and cherry pickers. there is no acceptable means of well as a broad spectrum of other compliance for ‘business as usual’ interested project stakeholders. Drones, however, are fast BVLOS operations at the moment. becoming a viable and Crucially, safety cases need to be cheaper alternative for getting developed and proven for specific this job done, with the potential energy network flying operations COLLABORATION to revolutionise the way critical before permissions can be granted. IS THE KEY infrastructure is maintained. The only way to fully realise the TIMELINE & financial, environmental and health A first of its kind cross-utility and safety benefits of using drones NEXT STEPS project, this initiative is managed REGULATIONS NOT TECHNOLOGY across the gas and electricity Project duration: by the EIC and delivered by SME networks is to create a universal, 3 years aviation specialists, Callen-Lenz. This project is not about exploring cross-network, cross-utility new drone technologies. A series of ‘concepts of operation’ framework for operations, Instead it will enable the use of will be developed over the A collaboration of networks endorsed by the CAA. immediate BVLOS drone activities coming months in order to ensure including Cadent, National Grid for our project stakeholders through the full scope of network In order to secure this, meaningful Transmission, Northern Gas the creation of a comprehensive inspection requirements are Networks, Northern Powergrid, operational framework that has project-based collaboration will considered. Scottish & Southern Electricity been approved by the CAA. be critical. Networks and UK Power Networks ENERGY will be guided by lead project INNOVATION partner Wales & West Utilities. CENTRE 12 | ENERGY INNOVATION CENTRE INNOVATION REVIEW | 2017/18 0013 SO WHAT’S DERISKING WELCOMING WATER IN IT FOR OF INNOVATION DIPPING OUR THEM? REDUCED TOES INTO A COSTS NEW INDUSTRY ACCESS IN DECEMBER 2017, to meet Ervia’s industry challenges TO THE BEST IDEAS TO and learning more about the water SOLVE THEIR CHALLENGES THE EIC LAUNCHED sector. The EIC has a global network A NEW PARTNERSHIP FROM OUR VALIDATED of innovators with bright ideas and GLOBAL INNOVATOR WITH IRISH specialist skills. They are primed to meet the needs of our industry COMMUNITY MULTI-UTILITY partners and we are certain they COMPANY, ERVIA. will bring huge value to Ervia’s operations. I also have no doubt The deal will see the EIC that our current industry partners POTENTIAL working alongside Ervia’s will also benefit from this FOR CROSS-UTILITY AND operating companies Gas opportunity to embark on CROSS-SECTOR Networks Ireland and Irish cross-industry and cross-utility COLLABORATION WITH Water to improve the innovation projects and the OUR EXISTING GAS AND delivery of gas and water sharing of best practice.” ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION services in Ireland PARTNERS through the exploration Group Head of Innovation and of innovative new Strategy at Ervia, Paul O’Donoghue, technologies. said: “We are very keen to start working with the EIC and their other DEDICATED Ervia is the commercial semi-state industry partners to explore PRESS AND PR CAMPAIGN multi-utility company responsible innovation. We are interested to THAT WILL SHARE THEIR for the delivery of Ireland’s national see how the EIC’s proven calls for SUCCESS STORIES WITH THE gas and water infrastructure and innovation process can help us INDUSTRY AND BEYOND services that underpin the growth fast-track solutions to some of of the Irish economy. our biggest operational challenges, with the aim of securing a demonstrable return for our The EIC’s managing director, customers.” Denise Massey, said: “This is a very exciting partnership for us and we are looking forward to employing our innovation expertise
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THINKING STRATEGICALLY TO INFLUENCE EIC RIIO2 CONSULTATION MEASURING INNOVATION FRAMEWORK LOBBYING INDUSTRY CEOs EXCELLING AT AND GOVERNMENT FORWARD LOOK OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE WHAT’S OUTPERFORMING OUR DELIVERY GROWING OUR METRICS AND MEETING THE INNOVATION HAPPENING OPERATIONAL NEEDS OF OUR PARTNERS COMMUNITY IN 2018/19? 2022 TARGET OF 5000+ MEMBERS BECOMING INNOVATOR IMPACT PANEL DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITALLY- EICHUB.COM ENABLED PARTNERSHIP WITH ENERGY DIGITAL REVAMP OF SYSTEMS CATAPULT OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES TO IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS AND ENGAGEMENT DEVELOPING NEW INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS WELCOMING NEW ATTENDING GLOBAL EVENTS PARTNERS DEPLOYING INNOVATION SCOUTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD INCREASED CROSS-UTILITY AND CROSS-SECTOR FOSTERING LINKS WITH COLLABORATION INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISATIONS THE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, SUITES 1 AND 2, INWARD WAY, ELLESMERE PORT, CHESHIRE CH65 3EN TEL: 0151 348 8040 [email protected] www.energyinnovationcentre.com