Utility Week’s Lucinda Dann visited the UK’s first R&D centre for heat pumps to find out how and why Octopus Energy is preparing to install them on a mass scale from April 2022.
Latest articles
Utility Week Innovate’s first round-up of 2022 features Veolia’s first UK electric vehicle battery recycling facility, pan-utility efforts to improve priority services register support, and plans to trial solutions to smart meter ‘blackspots’.
News
The Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Energy Innovation Awards.
News
The latest round-up of utility industry innovation includes a customer experience digital twin from Northumbrian Water, plans for a ‘hydrogen town’ in the Humber region and an update on London’s ‘super sewer’.
News
Editor’s picks
Customers' understanding of the role they can play in lowering carbon emissions must be addressed if utility companies want to get them on-board for the net zero journey. A panel of experts at the Utility Week Adapting for net zero conference said utilities must be assertive and take the time to explain the benefits to consumers of changing their behaviour to lower emissions.
News
National Grid’s head of international decarbonisation, Craig Dyke, discusses one of the major announcements of COP26 – the One Sun One World Grid. Writing for Utility Week, he sets out what is needed to make the scheme a success and its potential to achieve secure, reliable and affordable power across the world.
Opinion
As the UK’s ageing fleet of nuclear power stations begins to close – until recently a steady source of low-carbon baseload generation – Utility Week speaks to Simon Morrish, chief executive at XLinks, about its plans to transmit cheap solar power thousands of kilometres across the Atlantic seabed from the sun-drenched deserts of Morocco to help fill the looming gap.
Interviews
In a first weekly round-up of innovation project news, the East Coast Hydrogen Consortium unveils a feasibility report on adapting north east England’s gas network for hydrogen, EDF and Veolia announce a vitrification rollout and Severn Trent captures carbon from sewage treatment.
News
What will it take to make energy network data fit to support the net zero carbon transition and ensure the right systems are in place to allow innovation to proliferate? The critical building blocks for future proofed energy data strategies are explored in this Utility Week Explains report.
Downloads
UW Innovate caught up with Yasmin Ali – energy innovation project manager at BEIS – to reflect on her 11 years in utilities ahead of her appearance at Utility Week’s Adapting for Net Zero Conference 2021.
Interviews
With insight into Uber’s approach to processing 400 million service tickets per year, utilities experts examined the role of data and digitalisation in enabling more agile and empathetic customer interactions.
Analysis
A recent Utility Week Innovate webinar explored the experiences of two utilities trialling open banking to help address mounting challenges around affordability and debt. Here we explore key lessons and talking points.
Analysis
As decarbonisation and diversified competition continue to shape energy products and services, Utility Week invited energy retail giants from both sides of the Atlantic to dissect the data strategies driving their efforts to sustain and grow customer engagement in challenging times.
Analysis
The latest raft of utility industry innovation includes a new apprenticeship collaboration for Utility Warehouse, a claimed ‘world first’ for National Grid and Hitachi Energy, and plans for a new hydrogen hub in Southampton.
News
In a first weekly round-up of innovation project news, the East Coast Hydrogen Consortium unveils a feasibility report on adapting north east England’s gas network for hydrogen, EDF and Veolia announce a vitrification rollout and Severn Trent captures carbon from sewage treatment.
News
Entries for the 2022 EIC Energy Innovation Awards close on 1 October.
News
UW Innovate caught up with Yasmin Ali – energy innovation project manager at BEIS – to reflect on her 11 years in utilities ahead of her appearance at Utility Week’s Adapting for Net Zero Conference 2021.
Interviews
The clamour for net zero, increased energy demand and shortages related to Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic have left utility companies overstretched and potentially vulnerable to unethical behaviours infiltrating supply chains. Utility Week invited industry experts to have their say on tackling poor practice.
News
The Utility Week Awards are returning to London’s Grosvenor Hotel this December. See a full list of categories and find out how to enter here.
Market insight
Effie Vraka of charge point manufacturer Easee shifts through the actions she believes are needed to take the handbrake off the UK's electric transport ambitions.
Interviews
An Innovate UK trial to reduce clutter for on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging has gone live. The first chargepoints have been installed as part of the Subsurface Technology for Electric Pathways (STEP) project, funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and delivered by Innovate UK
News
Utilities consultancy Reson8 explores how to reduce carbon emissions by 12 per cent from commercial vehicles by making scheduling more efficient. This could cut the fuel needed for journeys to save time, money and carbon.
Opinion
UW Innovate caught up with Yasmin Ali – energy innovation project manager at BEIS – to reflect on her 11 years in utilities ahead of her appearance at Utility Week’s Adapting for Net Zero Conference 2021.
Interviews
Cadent Foundation director Julia Dwyer sets out a model for maximising the impact of innovation targeted at tackling fuel poverty. Partnership, flexibility and an ability to look beyond regulated needs codes are its key hallmarks.
Comment
The remit and capabilities of the Energy Systems Catapult's Living Lab have grown following a hook up with the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) in May. Rebecca Sweeney, business lead for the Living Lab, outlines the project and its aspirations.
Comment
The challenge of scaling up the smart meter roll-out is shared across gas, water and electricity companies. As the panel debate and workshop at the Utility Week Live Summit discussed, smart meters prepare consumers for the changes to come on the net zero journey. But is there are also a case for using the energy sector's new dual band communications network for smart water meters too? Read on to hear more about delegates' views.
Analysis
The energy sector is seeing a rapid evolution of customer journeys and channels, with consumer expectations growing all the time. But are the energy market and the systems changing fast enough to meet these needs? This new white paper from Coeus Consulting considers some of the key challenges facing technology leaders across the energy sector and their wider significance.
Downloads
Local authorities are facing the dual pressures of boosting investment and decreasing emissions. However, these goals are not mutually exclusive. As part of our Countdown to COP series, SSE’s Stephen Stead looks at how forward-thinking councils are seeking to use the post-Covid economic recovery to modernise their energy infrastructure.
Opinion
The latest raft of utility industry innovation includes a new apprenticeship collaboration for Utility Warehouse, a claimed ‘world first’ for National Grid and Hitachi Energy, and plans for a new hydrogen hub in Southampton.
News
In a first weekly round-up of innovation project news, the East Coast Hydrogen Consortium unveils a feasibility report on adapting north east England’s gas network for hydrogen, EDF and Veolia announce a vitrification rollout and Severn Trent captures carbon from sewage treatment.
News