Challenge programme

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A ban on sales for new petrol and diesel vehicles after 2030 has brought the challenges associated with decarbonisation of transport for utilities into sharp relief. Electrification will see power demand skyrocket, putting strain on networks but also offering opportunities for the creative use of electric vehicles as tools for energy flexibility. 

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Utilities need to transform legacy approaches to asset planning and management to meet the challenges posed by decarbonisation, water scarcity, and regulatory operational efficiency expectations in a timely and cost-effective way. To do this, they will need to make great leaps in the way asset information is leveraged. Join this session to hear: 

Innovation is urgently needed in wastewater management and treatment to meet regulatory expectations, reduce environmental impact and exploit the circular economy opportunities associated with treatment by-products.  Join this session for frontline insight into key projects and technology advances aimed at:  

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Decarbonisation of heating for buildings is now solidly acknowledged as a make-or-break issue in the UK’s ambitious mission to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy and Hydrogen Strategy have put in place a founding framework for how the challenge will be tackled, with roles for both electric and hydrogen-based technologies. Now it’s time for action.  

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To operate efficient, net zero infrastructure in the future utilities need to conquer growing complexity and optimise assets in a “whole system” context. They also need to facilitate innovation in their industry ecosystems so that third parties can bring forward exciting new products and services to help customers reduce their energy and water usage and play a more active demand-side role.  

The water industry's focus on phosphorus removal is ramping up in line with stretching new targets in AMP7 and increasing sensitivity around the adverse impacts of phosphorus on the natural environment. 

Energy and water utilities are stepping into a new era of unprecedented need for capital investment as the rising demands of a climate stressed future prompt huge upticks in the scale and required pace of complex project delivery – all while containing costs. As companies move to replace and extend infrastructure to ensure it is future fit, capital delivery teams will need to be suitably equipped with the resources, skills and technologies to meet all of these challenges with confidence. 

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It’s coming: the way the UK public interacts with their energy provider is set to change, drastically and permanently. The rollout of EVs and new smart home technologies, such as domestic energy storage and low carbon heating solutions, will turn many more customers into ‘prosumers’. 

To deliver essential operational efficiency gains and mitigate the growing risk of asset failure in an aging infrastructure base, utilities must fully embrace proactive and predictive approaches to asset management. This means using new and existing asset information better, to enhance understanding of asset health and how this can be impacted by a variety of factors – from changes in its environment to altered performance expectations. 

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Responsibility for delivering essential services means utilities must protect the most vulnerable in our society, ensuring they are not deprived of heat, power, or water, nor disadvantaged by any inability to engage in rapidly changing utilities markets. Upholding this responsibility will only become more challenging as the long tail of the pandemic continues to reveal its impacts on the financial, physical, and mental health of many consumers and the drive for net zero fires debate about how to achieve a “just” transition. 

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Deep decarbonisation and decentralisation continue to focus on mounting dependency and pressure on energy network operators. An accelerated shift to low carbon heating and transport options in this decade will intensify this trend, meaning networks must likewise ramp up their ability to cleverly manage network constraints.  

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Utilities are feeling the heat of competitive, regulatory and social pressures to transform customer service. They need to deliver more personalisation, more choice and more transparency for customers. They need to do it at scale and with a ruthless commitment to driving down cost to serve, even as issues like climate change are adding complexity to the services and product sets they have on offer.

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The long-talked-about transition of distribution network operators into a world of distribution system operations is now well underway, albeit in a shifting policy landscape where the boundaries of responsibility and competition for DSO services are still to be clearly defined. Likewise, innovation schemes and technology development have transformed the idea of local flexibility services from theory to reality, with DNOs now actively tendering for flexibility from local distributed energy resources. 

How can we get away from pouring concrete and move towards more sustainable approaches to maintaining resilient infrastructure? This session will explore the latest thinking about how to drive down capital carbon and investment emissions and ensure biodiversity net gain in line with asset renewal and replacement programmes. We’ll also delve into emerging evidence on the costs and benefits of natural capital and nature-based solutions versus conventional infrastructure approaches.