This report has been commissioned as part of the Unlocking Clean Energy in Greater Manchester (UCEGM) project 1 and is intended as a Thought Leadership exercise; whereby the contents discussed as well as the views expressed are aimed to act as a base of discussion around the future of Active Network Management (ANM) systems and Local Energy Markets (LEMs).

UCEGM is a pioneering project that aims to deliver a number of renewable schemes across the Greater Manchester area and is intended to create a blueprint which other cities and local authorities can replicate. The project has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund and has been incorporated in to the Manchester Combined Authority Five Year Environment Plan.

During the UCEGM project, questions began to arise concerning ANM systems; what their operation or function may look like at a more advanced level of development and mainly, how could ANM systems function alongside Local Energy Markets. The report has used Project BiTraDER (a Network Innovation Competition project 2 ) as a starting point for the future of ANM operations in a scenario where integration between future Distribution System Operators (DSO) and the Electricity System Operator (ESO) would be required.

Project BiTraDER aims to provide generators the ability to trade their curtailments with each other based on ANM constraint forecasting, effectively creating a new market locally for generators that would have otherwise not have been able to produce energy. There is potential to build on this type of project with Local Energy Markets which the report aims to do. As part of the UCEGM project, the Energy Systems Catapult contracted Cornwall Insight, an independent energy research and consulting firm which developed a dynamic energy and market model that included the GB transmission model as well as a granular distribution model for the Greater Manchester area. This model reveals where constraints are likely in a future power system where demands are expected to increase drastically, and constraints were also modelled on the DNO networks around Active Network Management areas. Modelling outputs further reinforced the need for greater system flexibility and Active Network Management development to manage the growth in distributed connected generators.

The report has detailed in section 6 on how a staged rollout of a Local Energy Market could co-exist with an ANM, and how the ANM system would retain its core function as a protection mechanism whilst using the data captured by the monitoring devices (thermal data, generator outputs, line loads etc) to aid in the development of a Local Energy Market.

The proposed use of generator data, forecast generator positions and line loading data is the primary reason the report has used Electricity North West Limited’ (ENWL) Project BiTraDER to showcase how an LEM could be developed alongside ANM innovations, as ENWs innovation project essentially covers the first stage of the proposed development of an LEM and ANM integration as set out in the report.