The energy and transport revolution is already well underway. If you are involved in the supply chain in these sectors get ready for some serious disruption. Let’s be very clear, business as usual is not an option.

The electrification and decarbonisation of heating and transport is going to have a huge impact on the electricity distribution system.

Demand will go up. So will the usage of less predictable and controllable wind and solar power generation.

Right in the middle of this revolutionary upheaval is Western Power Distribution whose job it is, along with the National Grid, to keep our lights on.

The solution to the problem of coping with four times the demand for electricity will be the development of smart grids, electricity storage solutions and rapid signaling of requests for energy to be stored or released into the grid with price incentives.

My name is David James and in this episode of Midlands Energy and Transport Innovation I’m talking once again to Paul Jewell, the DSO Development Manager and Electric Vehicle Lead at Western Power Distribution.

He explains that there are lots of stakeholders, many systems and heaps of complexity in the development of a smart grid and the key to it all is data.