EVALUATION

AN INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF THE LCNF
3.4.3 Involvement of third parties
From the responses we received, all the DNOs feel that the involvement of third parties
has increased the breadth of innovation and actively contributed to the success of the
projects. SSE commented that hosting a third party to lead a technology trial encouraged
the evolution of new service delivery models.
Intellectual Property (IP) was mentioned as a barrier by four of the DNOs, especially for
Small – Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who depend on retaining their background IP and
gaining from any foreground IP. It is recognised that managing IP can be difficult within
the context of the LCNF; however addressing potential IP issues at an early stage would
seem to increase the chances of successful collaboration. This was also identified by
SMEs in their questionnaire responses 33 .
3.5 Innovation in the DNO business plans
As required by the LCNF governance each DNO produced an Innovation Strategy Annex
as part of their RIIO 2015- 2023 business plan. These all recognise the importance of
innovation to help resolve the future challenges from the Low Carbon Technologies
(LCTs) and some detail committed savings from their innovation portfolio which cover
LCNF projects as well as IFI and others. Generally, however, information given in the
innovation strategy document is at a high level and does not consistently detail the
benefits or learning from the LCNF projects. The strategies given in the plans refer to
smart grid/ network development plans/ strategies and cover technical themes, such as
automation, DSR, storage, smart meters, ANM etc. and or innovation themes, such as
safety and environment, network reliance, efficient, customer service etc. Again the level
of detail in respect of the strategies and plans is not consistent across the DNOs and
there is room for improvement with respect to the way innovation is considered by the all
DNOs to ensure the LCNF learning and benefits are maximised as well as optimising the
future innovation road map.
3.6 Summary
The work described in this section is associated with exploring the extent to which the
LCNF has promoted a culture change within DNOs with respect to innovation becoming a
core part of normal business. The DNO teams dedicated to LCNF – the Future Networks
teams for example – have increased in size throughout the LCNF period as the
requirements of the projects have increased 34 . Over the period 2010 to 2015 the total
number of technical staff in the Future Networks teams, for the six DNO groups, increased
from 27 to 90; the number of commercial staff dedicated to the LCNF projects went from
zero to 14 and support staff increased from six to 29.
The DNOs have developed working practices to disseminate innovation throughout their
organisations and it appears that they recognise the importance of innovation to help
resolve the future business challenges 35 . Many DNOs also have strategies for project
partner and stakeholder engagement which DNOs claims has increased the breadth of
innovation and actively contributed to the success of the projects.
33
34
35
As detailed in Section 4.4.3.2.
Numbers reduced slightly as some of the larger Tier 2 projects finished.
As outlined in the ‘Innovation Strategy’ annexes as part of the RIIO 2015- 2023 business
plan.
PÖYRY MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
October 2016
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