Duncan Botting, head of technology and business development for ABB Power Technologies in the UK, outlines some of the ways the company is engaging with the government, regulatory bodies, institutions and customers to understand and help resolve some of the key issues facing the power industry
As a member of the IEE Power Systems & Equipment Professional Executive, I have been leading a cross-industry working group, under the sponsorship of the DTI and Ofgem. This team has compiled a ‘plan-for-a-plan’, named the Technical Architecture (TA) project, for a new network infrastructure vision up to 2050. This plan, published in the ‘Way Ahead’ report, presents a framework approach to the many fundamental technical, commercial, environmental and regulatory challenges faced by the industry. Consequently, I was asked to continue as a work programme director under the new Distribution Working Group (DWG) reporting to the jointly chaired DTI/Ofgem Electrical Network Strategy Group (ENSG). This work also resulted in a request for me to engage in the EU Technical Platform Advisory council, a TA project for European Networks.
In addition, I also represent ABB, and the electrical engineering profession in general, on a number of highly influential advisory/steering groups. I recently became a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London, as well as being a member of the IEE Energy Sector Panel and a member of the UK Energy Research Council Advisory Panel. Further evidence of the growing recognition of what ABB’s leading technology can bring to the UK electricity industry is shown in prestigious lectures such as the IEE Maxwell Lecture given by Sir John Mogg (Ofgem chairman) earlier this year.
UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION
ABB UK and ABB Corporate Research collaborates with universities and our customer base to identify and develop the key enabling technologies for the future. Especially important among these collaborative projects are the DTI Innovation funded projects, which are designed to encourage innovation in an otherwise risk adverse industry. These work in conjunction with Ofgem’s Innovation Funding Initiative (IFI) and Registered Power Zone (RPZ) incentives. These activities enable ABB to demonstrate the power of our technology to reduce the risk and increase the benefits for Distribution Network Operators (DNOs).
ABB UK has a strategy of engaging with the best power accredited universities in the UK. We are now working with the newly formed University of Manchester (formerly University of Victoria and UMIST) to become a strategic alliance partner along the same lines as our successful relationships with the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. One of the first steps will be to sponsor a PhD student to team up with NGT to investigate the effect of ageing on DC insulation at high voltage.
THE POWER ACADEMY
ABB’s own growth plans, in common with the industry as a whole, call for a new, talented workforce to reinforce its already strong and highly-trained UK team. So to assist in the development of these new engineers of tomorrow, ABB has joined the IEE Power Academy to help attract more youngsters into this new era of exciting opportunities. The Power Academy’s membership boasts all the major TNOs, DNOs, manufacturers, consultants and universities providing an unrivalled package of benefits. As part of a schools awareness programme we recently joined the IEE and Setpoint at Everton FC’s Goodison Park for a two day exhibition
Available at www.dti.gov.uk/energy/gas and electricity/tradingnetworks.index.shtml
The ABB stand at Goodison Park was enthusiastically manned by two engineers from Stone (pictured; Mark Stokes and Stephen Norris).