October 2016
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Does the UK need new nuclear?
How one company is blowing the cobwebs off the energy industry
Six of the biggest North Sea oil finds
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EDITOR’S COMMENT
It has been a big couple of weeks for nuclear power, AS I WRITE this letter, the UK’s nuclear sector is basking in the approval of Hinkley Point C, the country’s first new nuclear power plant in a generation. For this month’s edition of Energy Digital, I spoke to industry experts to find out why some view the plant as vital for the UK’s energy mix. And the arguments for (and against) Hinkley mirror the disputes surrounding nuclear power on a global scale. As the race to decarbonise begins, we saw fit to examine one of the more contentious methods of doing so. In this month’s technology feature, we take a look at the Oxford Flow regulator — a pressure-reducing valve designed for high-level performance in natural gas transmissions, process industries and water distribution. With the approval of Hinkley, and the continued decline of North Sea oil production, a shift in methods of energy generation is being felt not just in the UK, but worldwide. In this month’s list feature, we see just how much life is left in the UK’s once lucrative North Sea oil reserves. As always, let us know what you think of the issue @EnergyDigital
Enjoy the issue! Jennifer Johnson Editor jennifer.johnson@bizclikmedia.com 3
CONTENTS
F E AT U R E S
PROFILE
06 need new nuclear? Does the UK
TECHNOLOGY
LIST
Six major North Sea oil finds
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Going with the flow
October 2016
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C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES
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Crown Resorts Australia
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DB Results Australia
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PROFILE
Does the UK
need new nuclear?
Nuclear power is a polarising topic: advocates see it as reliable low-carbon method of generating energy, while critics worry that it will have harmful effects on surrounding communities. With the UK’s energy future looking more and more uncertain, we take a look at how nuclear could be poised to contribute to the island’s energy mix Written by: JENNIFER JOHNSON
PROFILE AS DISPUTES AND delays left Hinkley Point C floundering, many observers wondered what the nuclear project could bring to Britain’s energy mix that renewable alternatives could not. The Crown Estate recently highlighted the fact that offshore wind farms can already be constructed at cheaper rates than Hinkley’s proposed reactors, and when the government gave the project the green light last month, some detractors deemed it ‘white elephant’. However, in the period between 2010 and 2030, two-thirds of the UK’s centrally-dispatchable generation capacity will have reached retirement-age — and it’s crucial that the country adopts equally flexible and available replacements. One piece of the puzzle Proponents of nuclear power argue that without the addition of new nuclear generating facilities, it will be difficult to assure the UK’s energy security and ensure that carbon emissions targets are met. In order to achieve these aims, it is crucial that the country utilises a mix of renewable energy and nuclear power. 8
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“There will still be times at which there will not be enough resource either from the sun or the wind,” says Tom Greatrex, the Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) who served as Shadow Energy Minister from 2011 to 2015. “Even after you’ve taken account of whatever storage capacity you can get, we will need power from other sources. It’s much better to have that in a low-carbon way.” At present, the UK has 15 nuclear reactors generating around 21 percent of its total electricity, though half of this capacity will be retired by 2025. The government is striving to have 16GW of new nuclear capacity operating by 2030, with three new nuclear plants, including Hinkley, in various stages of planning. Unlike France — which derives three quarters of its power from nuclear sources — the UK is not striving to generate a majority of electricity using nuclear reactors. Greatrex warns against viewing any single generation method as a “silver bullet” to solve the problem of potential electricity shortages. Nuclear and renewables must come to see each other as contributors
DOES THE UK NEED NEW NUCLEAR?
“Nuclear’s major advantage is that it produces a large amount of near-zero carbon baseload energy reliably with a minimal impact on land resources” – Vince Zabielski
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PROFILE to a reliable low-carbon solution. “The industry, more widely, needs to not just acknowledge, but begin to say much more clearly that this about the best of a mix of a range of technologies,” he says. “It’s an acknowledgment that there is not a single answer.” On-demand advantage Advocates of nuclear energy argue that its ability to be dispatched at the request of grid operators make it an ideal, cleaner complement to more intermittent methods of renewable generation. Greatrex explains that nuclear can act as a baseload power source to be built upon “rather than trying to find a very expensive way to have some dormant peaking capacity to ramp up for the couple of weeks in January when it’s most acutely needed,” he adds. “Nuclear’s major advantage is that it produces a large amount of near-zero carbon baseload energy reliably with a minimal impact on land resources,” says Vince Zabielski, a Senior Lawyer at Pillsbury law firm’s nuclear energy practice. “From a security of supply standpoint, nuclear makes a lot of 10
October 2016
DOES THE UK NEED NEW NUCLEAR?
sense for a country like the UK where natural resources are limited.” The role of opposition While nuclear’s zero-carbon generation profile makes it attractive to some environmentalists, others remain concern about the impact of the plants — and the waste they produce — on the natural world. One of the solutions proposed for the disposal of radioactive waste involves storing it in repository deep inside a stable geological formation. The United States has already implemented deep geological disposal for defencerelated intermediate-level waste and preferred sites have been selected for high-level waste in France, Sweden,
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PROFILE
“There will still be times at which there will not be enough resource either from the sun or the wind” – Tom Greatrex
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DOES THE UK NEED NEW NUCLEAR?
Finland and the USA. The search for a geological disposal site has been underway in the UK for decades, with Cumbria County Council rejecting a proposal for a repository in 2013. Finding a community willing to host a nuclear waste disposal site has proved challenging for would-be developers, but according to Zabielski, opposition is a crucial part of ensuring nuclear sites are as safe as possible. “Criticism is necessary to drive safety to ever higher levels, and countries that have a strong safety culture and listen to the concerns of individuals and groups have a better safety record than those countries that have a hierarchal structure that prevents people from raising safety challenges,” he explains. “I think people who take the time to find out about just how much safety is an integral part of every operating nuclear facility, and every potential future nuclear development, tend to be reassured,” Greatrex says.
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TECHNOLOGY
Going with
the flow How one Oxford company is blowing the cobwebs off the energy industry Wr i t t e n by : H A Z E L DAV I S
Professor Tom Povey, Oxford Flow Technical Director
TECHNOLOGY
THE ‘DREAM’ — and this applies to the energy industry more than anywhere else — is to be able to do more for less. And one Oxford-based company is working hard (though not too hard, of course) on being able to do just that. Oxford Flow was launched last year, following the commercialisation of a new type of pressure-reducing valve originally discovered during research 16
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into jet engines at Oxford University’s Osney Thermo-Fluids Laboratory. The innovation has been funded by Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), a new £320m fund created to support ambitious Oxford technology companies and backed by names such as Google and the Wellcome Trust. The team behind Oxford Flow is drawn from the very best of
GOING WITH THE FLOW
Professor Tom Povey, Oxford Flow Technical Director
industry and academia. CEO Simon Hombersley is the industrial entrepreneur behind energy efficient compressor Lontra and former chairman of Oxford based start-up TwentyNinety, which developed a wireless management and control system for photovoltaics, and founded the innovation consultancy Puntios. Designer of the regulator and Oxford Flow’s technical director, Professor
Tom Povey, is a former Rolls-Royce Industrial Fellow, whose work through the Osney Thermo-Fluids Laboratory has also involved projects with Siemens, Qinetiq and GKN. Professor Povey is known for his energysaving saucepan, the Flare Pan. Professor Povey identified the need for the valve while researching jet engines. He’d been working with high flow rates of compressed gas 17
TECHNOLOGY that, for reasons of efficiency and safety, needed to be regulated. The regulators available on the market were not precise enough so he devised a completely new method of controlling gas and developed a series of products based on this technology. The flow “represents the first genuine innovation in this type of valve design since the Victorian age and the brilliance of it hinges on the fact it uses a direct sensing piston actuator, rather than a diaphragm to control pressure,” explains Chris Leonard, Oxford Flow’s Business Development Director. “Removing the diaphragm eliminates the main source of failure in valves,” he adds. A typical regulator works by using a diaphragm that constantly modulates as it controls pressure,
“The brilliance of it hinges on the fact it uses a direct sensing piston actuator, rather than a diaphragm to control pressure.” 18
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and therefore needs to be flexible in order to provide accurate control. This flexibility is normally provided by a limited range of elastomers, which, because of their elasticity, are prone to fatigue, embrittlement and erosion. This, in turn, necessitates repair and replacement. By replacing the diaphragm with a direct sensing piston actuator, the main reason for valve failure is eliminated and the design is greatly simplified. “One side of the piston is exposed to downstream pipeline pressure, while the other side is balanced against a pressure cavity controlled by a pilot regulator,” says Leonard, “The piston actuator operates over an optimised feed-hole configuration to provide precise, stable control across the entire operating range. During operation, the piston moves inward, reducing the size of the cavity when the downstream pipeline pressure exceeds that within the pressure cavity set by the pilot regulator. The movement of the piston actuator in closing reduces the flow rate to maintain a stable downstream pressure. When demand increases the downstream pressure falls below that set by the pilot and the
GOING WITH THE FLOW
reverse operation occurs, the cavity expands as the pilot feeds it, opening the flow path, which increases flow and maintains a stable downstream pressure. The company has two devices dedicated to these industries, the IHF Series Oxford Regulator™ for Gas and IP Series Oxford PRV™ for water. The IP Series Oxford PRV for Water combines a small size and significantly reduced weight with increased reliability. This enables operators to minimise the space required to carry out operations and greatly reduce the need for trench access over the device’s lifetime. It also means that smaller crews are required to install it and that there is no need for lifting equipment. And as it has just one moving part (and therefore less margin for error) this also minimises the need for expensive maintenance and replacement. Similarly, the IM Series Oxford Regulator offers ultra-high
Oxford Flow Regulator 19
TECHNOLOGY
flow capacity and accuracy for gas and fluid applications. “Its use saves space because it can fit neatly between standard flanges in a wafer-type installation’” Leonard explains, adding, “The optimised flow path also has minimal restrictions, reducing turbulence and noise.” Additionally, because of its streamlined design, the device is well-equipped for handling liquids and dirty fluids such as crude oil. Currently the team is working with several utility companies on bespoke applications of the technology and, says Leonard, it is hoped that the technology will enable businesses in the gas and water industries to improve performance and reliability, while
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GOING WITH THE FLOW
simultaneously driving down costs. Professor Povey has been outspoken in the past about the utility sector’s need to innovate. He told Utility Week earlier this year that, “Innovation is the aerospace sector’s ‘bread and butter’ and engineers come up with ‘wacky ideas’ that don’t come to fruition until 10 years down the line.” It seems as though Oxford Flow is bucking this trend with gusto and changing the industry in the process. Flow regulation is a central part of performance in so many industries and these valves are a game-changer in the $3 billion pressure-regulator market and will provide a welcome platform and opportunity for future industrial control products.
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LIST
Six of the UK’s biggest offshore oil finds With the heyday of North Sea oil production behind us, we take a look back at some of the biggest finds ever tapped in the waters around the UK. Writ ten by: JENNIFER JOHNSON
TOP 10
As part of the competition, geoscientists and engineers could be awarded up to £30,000 to develop their work into a final product to be used by the OGA. Winners included Australian geoscience firm FROGTECH,
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private company Geop4ysics and not-for-profit earth sciences consultancy Geoscience Wales. The exploration license contest comes amid a period of turmoil for the UK’s North Sea oil industry. In May, the sector posted a loss to taxpayers for the first time in its history, with the Treasury putting £24 million more into investment and decommissioning than it got back in petroleum revenue tax for the 2015/16 tax year. In 2014, those employed in the North Sea oil sector stood
Navin Mistry / Shutterstock.com
LAST MONTH, THE United Kingdom’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) awarded more than £200,000 in the final stage of its exploration license competition designed to pique further interest in offshore oil and gas exploration in the UK Continental Shelf.
SIX OF THE UK’S BIGGEST OFFSHORE OIL FINDS
450,000 strong. Last year, that figure dropped to 370,000, with 40,000 further job losses forecast by the end of 2016. With the government trying to incentivise new oil discoveries and developments, we take a look back at some of the most significant offshore oil and gas fields in the country’s history.
The Forties oil field is thought to be one of the largest oil fields in the North Sea based on both cumulative production and remaining reserves. Discovered in 1970, it was BP’s first major oil find, producing some 500,000 barrels of oil during peak production in 1979. The field set a record when it produced its billionth barrel in 1982, and went on to produce two billion barrels by May of 1989.
In 2003, Houston’s Apache Corporation purchased the field for more than US $800 million and vowed to extract another 800 million barrels of recoverable reserves in the field’s lifetime. As of 2010, Forties has produced more than 2.6 billion barrels of
oil. Decommissioning was meant to start in 2013, but the life of the field was later extended by another two decades.
CLAIR Discovered in 1975, the Clair oilfield lies in Scottish territorial waters around 75 kilometres west of Shetland. It is thought that the field is currently the largest hydrocarbon resource being developed on the UK continental shelf.
The Clair reservoir was discovered in 1977, with appraisal wells drilled in the 1980s. However, challenging reservoir characteristics meant that drilling could not commence for several decades. In 2001, the field’s developers 25
James Jones Jr / Shutterstock.com
FORTIES
TOP 10
approved a plan to proceed, and in February 2005 the first phase of development was inaugurated. This year, Clair Ridge, the second phase of the field’s development, is expected to come online this year. With an estimated eight billion barrels of recoverable reserves, the project has been designed to produce oil until 2050. BP operates the field, with a 28.6 percent interest in the development. Other partners include Shell, with a 27.9 percent stake; ConocoPhillips with a 24 percent stakes and Chevron, with a 19.4 percent stake.
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BUZZARD Located about 60 miles northeast of Aberdeen, the Buzzard oil field was discovered by PanCanadian in 2001. Now owned and operated by China’s Nexen, the field came on stream in 2000.
Last year, the Buzzard field produced its 500 millionth barrel of oil — outdoing an initial lifetime estimate of 486 million barrels of oil. The field is now expected to produce some 850 million barrels of oil until 2027.
CAPTAIN Chevron holds an 85 percent interest
SIX OF THE UK’S BIGGEST OFFSHORE OIL FINDS
CATCHER When Catcher was discovered in 2010, it was hailed as the biggest oil discovery since Buzzard. At the time, it was reported that the field held more than 300 million barrels of oil. Premier Oil operates the field and holds a 50 percent stake, while
other partners include MOL Group and Cairn Group, who hold 20 and 30 percent stakes, respectively.
Catcher is expected to produce its first oil in the middle of next year.
CULZEAN Maersk Oil discovered the Culzean gas condensate field in 2008. Its total resources are thought to be between 250 million and 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. At peak production in 2020/21 it will produce enough gas to meet five percent of the UK’s total demand. Production is due to start in 2019 and will continue for over a decade.
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James Jones Jr / Shutterstock.com
in the Captain oil field, which lies some 90 miles north east of Aberdeen, with Korea Captain Company and Hanwha Energy holding the remaining 15 percent. Captain first began producing oil in 1997 and was initially thought to contain around 350 million barrels of recoverable reserves.
A sustainability success strategy As one of Australia’s largest entertainment groups, Crown operates in a glamorous and fast-paced industry. However, it’s the things happening behind the scenes from a sustainability standpoint that may just be the resort group’s most exciting story Written by Sarah Megginson Produced by Josef Smith
CROWN RESORTS
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n international resort group with entertainment complexes in Melbourne, Perth, London and soon to be Sydney, Crown offers some of the largest integrated resorts in the southern hemisphere. Here, the focus truly is on integration, with each resort comprising a casino, hotels, events rooms, restaurants, bars, shopping trips and other entertainment facilities. They’re exciting places to visit and experience, but for Jonathan Wood, these resorts represent a treasure trove of opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment. As Crown’s Group Manager – Sustainability, Wood manages a range of both short term and long tem projects that aim to manage and reduce the group’s environmental footprint. “Someone told me there’s between one and two million light bulbs in each Crown complex,” Wood says, “so it’s definitely a comprehensive job!” Having been in the role for six years, Wood has overseen the development of Crown Melbourne’s
CROWNEARTH, launched in 2015 as a way of both recognising and uniting the work the group has been doing in environmental sustainability since 2010. CROWNEARTH encompasses a policy, strategy, plan, actions and outcomes that signify and reinforce the group’s commitment to the environment in all aspects of operations, from choosing suppliers to emptying rubbish bins. “My overall objective is to minimise Crown’s environmental footprint and to make us one of the leading integrated resorts in the world, when it comes to environmental sustainability,” Wood says. “This boils down to four key areas: energy, water, waste, and a sustainable supply chain. My day-to-day role is managing those elements.” Currently, Crown has two new projects under development – Sydney is in the early design stage and a new hotel complex in Melbourne has gone through planning – while in Western Australia, a new sixstar hotel is under construction
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CROWN RESORTS
“A normal wok in a commercial kitchen will consume 1.4 million litres of water every year! Get rid of that, and you will transform your kitchen” – Jonathan Wood, Group Manager – Sustainability to complement the existing Crown Perth. These new developments represent a ‘clean slate’ from a sustainability perspective, as Wood and his team can implement solutions in the design phase. “In Perth, we’ve been able to implement a number of advanced strategies that tap into existing recycling streams and sustainable procurement processes, such as LED lighting and water efficient fixtures and fittings,” Wood says. “But we’re also able to implement quite an advanced room control system for the hotel, which basically monitors the room to see when people are present or not, using motion sensors. This helps to optimise the use of lighting and HVAC but it’s also customer focused. By monitoring whether the customer is present or not, it can tailor the messages the customer receives, schedule maintenance to be performed at optimal times and time the ideal delivery of services.” Within Crown’s existing premises, the team is forced to think a little more creatively to find
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Jonathan Wood Group Manager – Sustainability
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sustainable solutions that can be introduced retrospectively. Back to those million-plus lightbulbs, for instance: when identifying opportunities to reduce energy wastage, the lighting was one of the first areas focused on, alongside heating, cooling and ventilation (HVAC). Wood explains that lighting usually accounts for around 10-15 percent of energy usage and HVAC around 50 percent, with the rest being equipment. “We’ve replaced around 80 percent of our globes in Melbourne and around 60 percent of them in Perth, moving from incandescent to LED. With advances in technology and the costs coming down, we’re also replacing the fluorescents as well,” Wood adds. “Since implementing our energy reduction strategies over the last five years we’ve managed to cut our lighting consumption down to around 35 percent of its previous
usage, and we’ve reduced HVAC by 20-25 percent. Travis Jones (HVAC Manager) and Steven Luxford (Building Optimisation Engineer) have been critical in producing these results together with our partners BUENO, Honeywell, Nuvo, EPM&C, AECOM and AE Smith.” While these numbers are impressive, they’re only the beginning for Wood, who says his team looks at the supply chain from every angle to ensure it is optimising opportunities to go green. “We’re not just interested in a better lighting solution: it’s the entire process from A to B that we analyse,” he says. “This means disposing of fluorescent lights in an environmentally conscious way, which can be problematic. There’s also a lot of junk out there, so we generally spend at least three months trialing each different light solution before we introduce it, to make sure the offering is right.”
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THE TOTAL SOLUTION
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Water efficiencies have been achieved through simple but meaningful changes, including turning off all external water fountains, removing all external water features, upgrading all toilets to dual-flush functions, and installing waterefficient fixtures and showerheads in each of the hotel suite bathrooms. “We even went to water-less woks in our kitchen, which had a surprising but really significant impact. Incredibly, a
normal wok in a commercial kitchen will consume 1.4 million litres of water every year! Get rid of that, and you will transform your kitchen.” They now have rainwater storage capacity of 300,000 litres, which allows rainwater to be reused through toilets and irrigation systems, and Wood says they are contemplating expanding their water recycling program. Meanwhile, waste management has been “our biggest success
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“We’re doing some innovative work in terms of cigarette recycling… they get converted into plastic moulded products. Ironically, ours are turned into ashtrays” – Jonathan Wood, Group Manager – Sustainability
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At Veolia, we’re helping our clients turn their waste into a usable resource The circular economy is based on designing out waste, reusing and recycling everything we produce. To make the switch from a resource consumption mindset to one of a use-and-recover approach, Veolia provides businesses with innovative waste recovery solutions. At Veolia’s Bulla facility in Victoria, we’re converting organic waste into compost that is used as a nutrientrich source of fuel to grow grapes in the Macedon Ranges. www.veolia.com.au
Resourcing the world
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story in the last 18 months”. With no fewer than 22 separate recycling streams, they’ve been able to improve their recycling rates from just 23 percent two years ago up to 70 percent earlier this year. Paul Humpries and Jeff Niemski from the Environmental Team have put huge amounts of effort into producing this amazing turn-around. “We’re doing some innovative work in terms of cigarette recycling. We work with Terracycle out of the US, and their motto is to recycle
things that no one else wants to. At Crown, cigarette butts are collected and they get converted into plastic moulded products. Ironically, ours are turned into ashtrays.” Another innovative recycling stream is their comprehensive garment and clothing reuse program, and they also recycle mattresses and electronic waste. While their results to date are very impressive, Wood believes there is still plenty of room to grow. “We’re now recycling 70 percent,
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CROWN RESORTS
“The level we want to go to is: where is the oil generated, to make the wrapping, which goes around the fruit that gets delivered to our restaurants? And where does that wrapper go afterwards?” – Jonathan Wood, Group Manager – Sustainability
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which is great, but there are further opportunities to explore. The ultimate target is zero waste and the next waste stream we’re looking at is recycling our gaming cards,” Wood says. “Across all of our Australian resorts we’re also introducing a building optimisation system that monitors the building’s performance and energy consumption instantaneously, with a number of algorithms in place to see where things can be improved. Instead of using human resources to monitor these processes, it’s automated – so the system might be able to see that someone left a fan on over the weekend in an empty room that should be switched off. This will be taking off in a big way over the next couple of years and
we’re looking forward to seeing what we can achieve with this type of ‘building diagnostic’ optimisation.” As signatories to the Australian Packaging Covenant, they are also always looking for opportunities to leverage a sustainable supply chain, Wood adds. “The level we want to go to is: where is the oil generated, to make the wrapping, which goes around the fruit that gets delivered to our restaurants? And where does that wrapper go afterwards? It’s a massive, massive journey and we only really began it in the last year or so. We’re developing a five-year road map and this is just the beginning of our sustainable supply chain journey.”
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POWERING UP the utilities sector
DB Results partners with businesses to ensure they can sustainably transition from strategy to reality. Offering strategic advice and digital solutions, it leverages the latest in technology to drive successful results – and in the utilities sector, now more than ever, this means unlocking the value in data to manage risk and maximise asset and customer value
Written by Sarah Megginson Produced by Josef Smith
D B R E S U LT S
R
ooftop solar combined with efficient battery storage and smart energy management solutions represent just one of myriad ways that digital disruption is set to transform the utilities sector, and according to Matt Nidd, General Manager – Utilities, DB Results, there’s a real risk that companies who fail to innovate will be left behind. “Technology and regulatory change effectively means that what was always a commodity – the delivery of energy – is being further commoditised . For instance, now even the residential meter data itself is becoming a commodity, thanks to the new Power of Choice initiative,” he explains. Given all components of the Retail value chain are available as a service, the barriers to entry into this market are lower than ever making it especially vulnerable to disruption. “This leaves customers wondering: why do I need to have a relationship with an energy provider and why I can’t I buy energy with my phone plan? For electricity retailers, this means it’s essential that you
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Matt Nidd General Manager, Utilities
Matt Nidd is responsible for running consulting operations, growing the utility advisory capability, strengthening quality delivery and developing new service offerings. He manages a large team of professionals to drive growth, solution design, capability, innovation, alliances, analyst relations, service delivery and operations. His team is responsible for providing mission critical services to many of Asia Pacific’s leading utility businesses. Nidd has 20 years of experience in utility businesses and technologies. He is experienced in building and managing globally distributed and diverse teams, and program delivery with sound technical knowledge in the utility domain. He has indepth experience in strategic planning, driving operational efficiencies, compliance reporting, deployment of large scale projects and managing P&L. He has worked extensively with clients to help them assess, deploy and manage world class technology solutions. Nidd is also a recognised speaker and panelist at national and international utility industry conferences.
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D B R E S U LT S
know your customers better, so you can offer better value and a range of ‘stickier’ products and services. And you can only do that by having rich data to leverage.” Deriving value from data, unsurprisingly, is where the utilities sector has its focus, and it’s where DB Results can step in as a digital integration partner, offering advisory and implementation services. 48
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With the impending commoditisation of mass market metering in Australia, DB Results is helping many key players in the industry to develop clear strategies to meet the next wave of change: Power of Choice. As the Australian electricity market continues to evolve, Power of Choice will drive a further callto-action and associated step change in churn, one of the energy
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industry’s bedrock components. “The data available from this meter is incredibly powerful… The value is clearly going to be in the data, as it allows market participants to drive meaningful insights, so they can create a better customer experience and manage energy supply more efficiently,” Nidd says. While Power of Choice will challenge utilities distributors’ traditional,
regulated funding model, it also opens up many opportunities for new market entrants and those retailers who are ready to innovate with new service lines. “Power of Choice is effectively about enabling customers to have more granular access to energy usage w w w. d b re s u l t s . c o m . a u
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“Technology effectively means that what was previously a commodity – the delivery of energy – is actually being commoditized further” – Matt Nidd, General Manager, Utilities
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D B R E S U LT S
information, so they can make more informed decisions and ultimately reduce consumption and manage cost. This is facilitated by enabling retailers, rather than distributors, the opportunity to offer consumers a smart meter bundle – including a way to view that data, such as an online portal presence where they can look at that data and make decisions about usage,” Nidd says.
$
50M
DB Results Annual Revenue
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“Obviously, it’s beneficial to everyone to use less power and put less pressure on the grid overall, and this process starts with the data. Data is at the core of everything. Consumers can use this data to look at shifting usage and moving to ‘time of use’ offers. With access to this kind of data, retailers can overlay other energy related products and services such as energy efficient appliances, bundled
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solar and storage and even insurance to create a deeper relationship”. As an industry thought leader, DB Results aims to leverage its utilities experience in this challenging marketplace, to help energy providers develop options for a Power of Choice response strategy. It’s already a very competitive marketplace and according to Nidd, it’s about to become even more
crowded – and much more disrupted. It’s those utilities providers who are ready to innovate and who embrace a more flexible business model that will survive and thrive in the long term, he adds. “Being an energy retailer is becoming less of a specialised field and now with this detailed data stream available, I think the large amount of
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Global provider of modern technology solutions for business
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infrastructure around traditional retailers are doing really interesting retailers will become a less things, like allowing consumers to sustainable business model,” he says. pre-buy energy. There are energy “Adding to that, we’ve still got over clubs, where you pay a $20 per month 20 percent customer churn in Victoria membership and in exchange, you and we’re likely to see churn in New get access to wholesale rates. There South Wales ratchet up with Power are other models that we’re seeing out of Choice, as it creates a new call where people are being incentivised to to action. Customers are not use less energy to get discounts sticky in this sector. At the on other goods and same time the cost to services,” Nidd says. acquire and the cost “Being able to to service are going manage such a up, while the profits diverse and valueare going down. It’s driven range of only going to get products, more Number of more competitive.” easily, with richer data Employees at The immediate and via a digital portal, DB Results solution to this is means that the traditional for retailers to become model will change materially.” savvier with their offering. In order to meet the complex and Those who think outside of the ever-changing needs of their client box to deliver bundled energy, base, DB Results works with a select gas and solar products, or who group of key partners which Nidd offer more services overall, stand describes as “key to our strategy”. to benefit most, as the traditional “One is a platform as a service retail tariff model will only appeal named OutSystems – it’s a powerful “as a very low value product”. a rapid application development “Some of the more innovative platform that really underpins
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“The large amount of infrastructure around traditional retailers will become a less sustainable business model” – Matt Nidd, General Manager, Utilities
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October 2016
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our digital play,” he says. “Our customers have for years been working with large transactional systems and they all want and need to respond to the customer experience by having a digital presence, and we saw this as a great solution.” The white labelled SelfServe.Cloud product leverages OutSystems to offer a best in class response for retailers wanting to offer integrated customers self-serve and energy efficiency capability without the overheads of being coupled to traditional customer care and billing solutions. The second is Bit Stew Systems, creators of the market-leading platform for Software Defined Operations for the Industrial Internet, which sets out to improve utility operations and asset performance in the fields of smart metering and smart grid operations. “For our customers, who are wanting to leverage the large volumes of data in their transactional systems for better asset and customer outcomes, Bitstew has demonstrated a superior data integration and
visualisation capability. This is especially so for utilities. Coupled with our services partner OSI and their deep data integration and analytics background we are particularly excited about the future of this offering” Nidd says. Where we are helping our customers with an end-to-end approach to remediating or developing complex meter and communications solutions our partner Operational Technology Solutions (OTS) have enabled us to have the market leading engineering capability required to be successful in this space. This has been particularly evident in OTS’s ability to remediate a complex point-to-point metering communications solution whilst simultaneously overlaying a contingent solution and trialling market leading data acquisition capabilities across both technologies. We are confident that the ecosystem we have developed with these partners positions us well to support our customers to change their businesses sustainably, now and in the future.
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MOVING FROM P R E S E R VAT I O N T O I N N OVAT I O N
Connectivity is a major and essential component of your digital platform. But your business needs more. So we take a more holistic approach. From front to back, we step up. We take responsibility for the design, build and maintenance. We’re accountable for ensuring your connectivity is not only high performance, but integrated and optimised with your LAN, cloud services, apps and hardware.
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