Thursday 12 October 2023

“The DSO will help customers connect to the network quicker”

National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) believes its new Distribution System Operator (DSO) will help deliver net zero.

Decision makers, customers and industry experts came together last month at the launch of the NGED DSO to discuss the new DSO charter.

President of the NGED, Cordi O’Hara explained why the DSO is necessary.

She said: ‘So the DSO helps us forecast and understand the load growth coming, how much generation is going to connect. It helps us develop new flexibility services that bring the whole system together.

‘That’s really good because it creates new revenue streams for those new assets connecting but also helps defer reinforcement and helps customers connect to the network quicker.

‘And then ultimately we need to operate the system really effectively, keeping it secure, reliable but low carbon.’

Director of networks at Ofgem, Akshay Kaul, emphasised the importance of collaboration within the industry.

He said: ‘We see collaboration and coordination as fundamentally in some ways more important in the short to medium term than competition that’s in the space.

‘And that means that across the local and regional energy system there needs to be really good coordination between the different so called vectors – gas, hydrogen, electricity and between the distribution system and the transmission system as well.

‘It's also very important that DSOs as they take shape collaborate with one another so that customers across the country receive a consistent level of service.’

Watch the full video to know more about National Grid Electricity Distribution’s DSO.