Member Article

Northern Powergrid to launch discovery sessions for local authorities following successful connections engagement event

Local Authorities will have a new route to information on low emission vehicle charging next year, as Northern Powergrid introduces dedicated connections sessions for local policy makers and their officers.

Following a successful EV connections event last week, where Northern Powergrid led stimulating debate about the future of EV charging on the electricity distribution network, the operator now plans to launch a bespoke series of engagements, where Local Authorities can come together and explore the pressing issues they face around improving air quality and reducing environmental impact through the provision of EV charging infrastructure and other wider activity.

With a statutory obligation to meet clean air targets and social responsibility to encourage low carbon transport, Local Authorities are naturally turning their attention to EV charging. The issue is being raised in committee sessions from highways to public health. However, resource and cash-strapped authorities have found it challenging to develop low carbon plans amid the competing priorities and cuts of the last decade.

“We are seeing a significant desire to move away from token charging points that act as ‘Eco-Bling’ and what we unearthed in the event last week is that many Local Authority personnel have common questions and early ideas on EV charging,” commented Mike Hammond, Head of Connections Services at Northern Powergrid. “As such there is a growing need for a forum that enables exploratory cross-authority conversations to happen in the company of a technologically knowledgeable, but technology agnostic, team of experts who can share experiences and help ideas become actionable plans.”

As part of its exemplary commitment to stakeholder engagement, Northern Powergrid hosts regular Connections Customer Forums, the next one of which takes place on 6 November 2018. Last week saw one of the first dedicated EV events with 68 delegates attending the fully booked event. More than 25% of these were Local Authorities stakeholders welcoming the opportunity to secure valuable engagement time with the connections team.

“The questions and one-to-one engagements across the day have highlighted the need for a gathering that will encourage a dialogue of diversity across the Local Authorities on our patch,” explains Emma Wilson, Northern Powergrid’s Connections Stakeholder Engagement Advisor. “With a network spanning some 9,650 square miles, serving a population of 8 million across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, we see everything from the inner-city challenges of Hull, Leeds and Newcastle, to the need to protect the look and feel of historical market towns like Haworth and Helmsley rounded off by the remote and rural challenges of the Northumbrian parks and Yorkshire Dales. Despite the diversity of challenges facing these authorities, they are strongly united by their early stage questions and hunger to better understand the opportunities EV charging can bring to their localities.”

Last week’s event saw leading thinkers from Northern Powergrid address the delegation at the Principal Hotel in York on topics ranging from smart charging to street furniture. Speakers included: • Jim Cardwell, Head of Policy Development • Mark Nicholson, Head of Smart Grid Implementation • Iain Miller, Head of Innovation • Paris Hadjiodysseos, Smart Grid Development Engineer • Phil Jagger, Design Team Manager • Derek Fairbairn, System Design Manager

Ian Goodwin, and independent consultant working with Hambleton District Council, also delivered an engaging and valuable insight into the realities of EV ownership under the current charging landscape.

“Across the day, the message was loud and clear from all corners of the room – with more than 100,000 EVs on UK roads, EV charging is no longer a topic of interest for a minority group of enthusiasts. This growing need for EV charging points will lead to many requests for new or larger connections and with an increasingly varied charging landscape – with home, workplace, destination and rapid charging all likely to form part of the mix – we’re committing our time to engaging with stakeholders to facilitate new connections and helping Local Authorities on our patch make informed decisions.” concluded Mike.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Northern Powergrid .