b'16 Partner News Spring 2023Enterpriserather than a few minutes. Experiential data also shows that one EV takes about the same amount of power as one house in a year. That means to replace all non EVs with EVs its equivalent to having to have enough capacity for a doubling of the housing stock!The Low Voltage (LV) electricity network delivers power to every home, and many businesses, and is fast becoming one of the most important parts of the power grid. It is huge with circa 1 million LV feeders in Great Britain, fed from 560,000 distribution substations. The asset life of a typical power network is 40 years, with the design principles more like 80+ years. This part of the network was traditionally installed on a fit-and-forget basis, with the assumption that a customer of the future, looks similar to a customer at the time the network was installed Possibly reasonable, and provides a nice efficient network, but when we realise that many of the cables powering our homes and business were installed in Delivering a Netthe middle of the 20th century (and a very different time), we can see the problem! The LV network has finite capacity, and when this capacity is exceeded, the life Zero ready grid. expectancy is reduced, increasing the chance of sustained long-term damage. Without intervention, we risk building a much bigger network, which may require extensive disruption and investment of anything from 30-50% of streets being dug up in the next 20 years. By Dave A Roberts, Commercial Director To get the most out of the LV network two things are becoming more of a necessity:& Mark Sprawson CEng MIET, Director ofModelling to show where the capacity Consultancy Insights at EA Technology exists, and with increasing sharing of this data to the public, andMonitoring to look in detail at how the demand moves on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to allow the network to operate up to (but not beyond) its limit.As we continue the transition to Net Zero, We know that to deliver decarbonisation, data, particularly around the low voltagethere will be a fundamental shift in theMore on Modellingnetwork, will become increasingly important.way the power flows through Low VoltageThe importance of having modelling of the New demands on the network from the carselectricity networks.network right down to the LV level where we drive, to the way we heat/cool, or powerindividual customers are connected has our homes will change the traditional powerWe are expecting, and already seeing,never been greater. Starting from a low flows and role of the electricity network. Inbig changes in the 2020s as citizens andbase, where many low voltage networks many countries, decarbonisation ambitionsbusinesses move towards alternativeare either not modelled, or modelled on a are now enshrined into law, and a criticalsources to fuel our cars and power ourspecific piecemeal basis, it is not becoming feature as we seek to improve energyhomes. A typical EV or heat pump drawsessential that this model cover the entire security, resilience and secure lower coststhe same amount of power as an electricnetwork to make it valuable for decision to citizens in the long term. shower, but these are on for several hours,making.'