Utility Week Live

21 Better together Denise Massey, managing director of the Energy Innovation Centre, talks to WET News editor Maureen Gaines about collaborative innovation and co-opetition as principles that could improve utilities performance across the board Last year, the EIC took a leading role in the Gas Innovation Summit, which helped create a shared strategic view of the sector's challenges and opportunities. How did the summit come about and how is the sector benefi ting? It's amazing. When you start the journey you have one thing in mind, then as you go through the journey you open minds. We've ended in a completely diff erent place but so much better and the ambition is so much bigger. With the gas networks there wasn't a single, natural point within the industry where great thinking comes together. There isn't a university you might go to, no obvious hub of expertise. What we wanted to bring together are the thinking heads of the industry, across supply chain, across academia and government. The big thing that allowed that to happen was the CEOs from four UK gas distribution networks endorsed this collaborative approach. They see themselves as four guys who have got jobs but the rest of the industry sees them as four people with infl uence. When they say something everything moves. They endorsed a feasibility study to develop some of this thinking. We started with some consumer research, which was so powerful it really drew you in and you began to understand what was really like for people who were off -grid gas, how they managed it, what they care about, what their issues were, what were their perceptions. With increasing threats to systems and new vulnerabilities emerging daily, there is an urgent need to develop a pipeline of qualifi ed and experienced cyber security professionals to safeguard our systems and infrastructure in the future." Hugh Boyes, cyber security lead, IET Ultimately, what the consumers were telling us is that they wanted control and reduced costs. They didn't care who the energy supplier was. Having started out as a gas-centric project we ended up with this ambition of creating a platform where you bring the community individuals together with people who have got the infrastructure whether its' networks or distribution and the funders together. The ambition is far bigger than where we started, and only came because we did it together. It was a very open process, and within six months we'd delivered a really tangible vision that we're now working on. It's given a blueprint so we can do it again for other areas. What lessons can other utilities learn from this process? The process we've gone through can be done anywhere but it needs strong leadership and the confi dence to go out and be truly open with all the main players and stakeholders in the industry. We just need some strong direction and leadership in diff erent areas and you can start to see how we can make a diff erence and make a positive change, and at pace. From a strategic point of view, all the utilities are quite similar and have similar challenges. They're all moving into the world of customer, and really trying to make a relationship with the customer when they've not historically had to do that. There are big issues – such as asset life extension, and more challenging regulatory frameworks. I think there're huge opportunities to work together. What we've started to do in the EIC is to align our industries around those big strategic issues. I am an eternal optimist, so I think it's an exciting time when people are beginning to see the challenges that are facing pan-utilities are similar and we can't do it on our own because the risk and the cost are very high. There's no better time than now to tackle some of these issues together. How does common understanding and communication create better opportunities and outcomes even where some utilities may be less advanced than others? In terms of gas and electricity, we've got the innovation funding incentives in place. Ofgem has driven a change of focus and a change of behaviours within electricity and gas. I understand there isn't the same innovation framework within water but certainly that framework has helped refocus innovation – which could be business improvement right through to step-change. If they work together, because electricity and gas are both just getting to grips with becoming more customer-centric, it's a really good time for the water sector to jump on board and fast-track that learning. We're working with an amazing innovation consultant who's introduced me this concept of co-opetition. A good example is how Tropicana and Ocean Fresh are using the same distribution channels. Tropicana ships their products up from Florida to New Jersey and Ocean Fresh uses the same vehicles to send stuff down. That's co-opetition. They're cooperating but they're competitors in the same market. Within the utilities we're not really competing necessarily. We have similar challenges and there are real opportunities for the utilities to cooperate and do the learning from each other. These services gas, electricity and water off er are almost considered a right [by consumers], they're not a luxury product. There is an expectation from the consumer that wherever they are they have the same service. If we put ourselves in the consumers' shoes do they care whether it's Dŵr Cymru, Thames Water, NWE or Scottish Power? They don't. They want a really good supply, so industry needs to have a grown-up conversation about how far they are willing to have the same front end. about collaborative principles that could 75 % By 2050, of the world's nine billion people will be living in cities and infrastructure in the future." Hugh Boyes See p18 for seminar agenda details Some critics argue that shale gas extraction goes against the UK's carbon reduction targets. But this is a red herring" Mike Foster, chief executive, chief executive, Energy and Utilities Alliance

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