Earlier this month, Advanced Infrastructure had the pleasure of joining over 120 professionals from across the Energy and Transport sector at the launch of the first Transport + Energy Forum in Birmingham.

Advanced Infrastructure’s Head of Product and Co-Founder Lily Cairns Haylor took to the stage alongside Rhys Williams Innovation Project Manager at Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) to deliver a case study on how utilising Advanced Infrastructure's LAEP+ tool will help accelerate local area energy planning in projects RESOP and LEO.

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Regional Energy System Optimisation and Planning (RESOP) 

Project RESOP was formed in 2020 by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) under Ofgem’s Network Innovation Allowance (NIA), to deliver a project that would support knowledge sharing between network operators and stakeholders in the energy system to help deliver Scotland’s ambitious decarbonisation targets.

Currently the authority for energy transition sits firmly with local government, which means that local governments must find resources, expertise, funding, data and information in order to build credible plans to take a local region from where they are now to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

In 2021, Advanced Infrastructure was awarded a place on the RESOP pilot scheme to trial their innovative geospatial planning tool LAEP+, facilitating collaboration between DNOs, local authorities and other energy transition stakeholders. 

LAEP+ works by allowing users to create custom maps populated with hundreds of datasets and run browser-based analysis to identify and evidence the suitability of different sites for low carbon energy interventions. 

By combining geospatial data, Future Energy Scenarios, power flow modelling and energy planning LAEP+ will be pivotal in the acceleration of energy planning and data exchange between SSEN and the local authorities involved in project RESOP.

The wider RESOP project brings together a whole systems array of partners and stakeholders including: Perth and Kinross Council,Dundee City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Arup, DerryHerk, SGN, SSEN, and Scottish Water. Advanced Infrastructure’s LAEP+ tool will support modelling of likely future energy scenarios, thereby supporting local decision-making and strategic network planning.

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Speaking at the Transport + Energy Forum, SSEN and Advanced Infrastructure demonstrated how the cloud based LAEP+ tool has been fundamental in the identification of PV potential, public transport accessibility and EV charge point siting in projects RESOP and LEO.

Hosted by Alec Peachey, Editorial Director of Transport + Energy the one day event also saw sessions from keynote speakers including  Katie Black, Joint Head of the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV); motoring broadcaster and transport campaigner Quentin Willson; and Graeme Cooper, Head of Future Markets at National Grid. 

In his closing remarks host Alec Peachy said:

“One thing that has run throughout is that of collaboration. It’s a word that is often bandied about, but today we’ve heard how vital it is. Today we heard how removal of siloes can be done. No-one can do this alone, so let’s keep uniting the sectors.”