Local Electricity Network Coordination Group minutes: June 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Onshore Electricity Policy, Scottish Government

• Heat in Buildings, Scottish Government

• Transport Scotland (TS)

• Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN)

• SP Energy Networks (SPEN)

• Independent Networks Association 

• Warmworks 

• Energy Savings Trust 

• Local Energy Scotland 

• Community Energy Scotland 

• Highlands and Islands Enterprise 

• Homes for Scotland 

• British Property Federation 

• Scottish Futures Trust 

• Osprey Charging Network (Charge UK Representative) 

• Network Rail  

Items and actions

Introductions, overview of LENCG, meeting purpose and objective

Following roundtable introductions, the Terms of Refence (ToR) were agreed with one amendment, to add a commitment to facilitate information and data sharing.

It was agreed that SG will recirculate the ToR for comment prior to publishing these on the SG website in addition to the meeting minutes and the LENCG membership list.

The minutes will be anonymised and circulated for comment before publication.

Overview

An overview was provided on Scottish Government’s net-zero statutory objectives as part of a just transition. 

The importance of networks and industry working together effectively to provide robust evidence and develop solutions to potential net-zero delivery barriers was emphasised. 

Transport 

The decarbonisation targets for transport were set out, including a commitment to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030. It was also set out that the TS Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Charging sets the standard for the future of the public charging network. 

The EV infrastructure fund will support local authorities to develop business cases for public charging for TS to consider for funding.

DNOs expressed a wish to be more closely involved in the delivery of this policy, particularly relating to EV Infrastructure Fund, to support overall strategic aims. TS emphasised the importance of conversations at this group to support closer working and noted that it continues to encourage local authorities to consider at an early-stage grid constraints in the development of their Strategy and Expansion Plans.  TS will consider whether there may be further options to bring engagement more closely together.

The importance of engagement between local authorities and ChargePoint operators was also highlighted.

Heat in buildings 

SG’s ambitions for heat decarbonisation – including to decarbonise 1 million homes in the next decade – were set out. Additionally, it was mentioned that the growth to date in the uptake of heat pumps will require the DNOs to respond to keep up with demand to support SG ambitions.

Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) should help support better forecasting of demand, in particular in relation to heat networks.

DNO barriers need addressed from the customer point of view, particularly in terms of the time taken to respond to customers.

For some schemes supporting households to install heat pumps, the number of applications has more than doubled, while times to facilitate each connection has tripled.

Networks

Supply chain and procurement are challenging due to the global race to decarbonise and the availability of more generous investment incentives abroad.

The DNOs are investing both in capacity in the network and office/admin capacity.

There has been a significant increase in the demand for heat pump and EV connections. DNOs need to ensure they have enough people on their teams to respond to connection applications efficiently to prevent significant delays to network decisions.

The DNOs are actively reviewing and improving the customer journey to facilitate better communication and are working to ensure processes are aligned and efficient, including using automation.

There is work ongoing with the transmission networks to provide greater control in managing the distribution network.

Overall, Ofgem must be provided with evidence that the right investment is being made.

Early engagement with stakeholders is key to understanding network requirements and there is a need to continuously explore ways of making processes more efficient, including through digitalisation.