An expert round table held earlier this year in London found that housebuilders may be missing out on solutions to connect their new developments to the electricity grid and meet the Future Homes Standard.
In order to reduce new build carbon emissions by electrifying developments with lower carbon solutions such as heat pumps, EV battery storage and solar PV returned electricity, housebuilders reported they are struggling to confront problems with schemes’ perceived capacity and electricity demand. However, the round table panel agreed that it was essential to be aware of innovative tech approaches for individual schemes to smooth demand peaks.
The round table looked at findings from a survey which netMAGmedia partnered with event sponsor E.ON on in order to address the key connection issues for developers, and understand their concerns. E.ON has developed a new electricity infrastructure-based product called DynamiX which works with the renewable systems installed in order to help them avoid taking more power than required and smooth overall demand spikes through the day.
The round table saw John Hadley, Growth & Transformation Manager, E.ON Energy, explaining the approach to delegates, which is about to hit the market, and saw consensus from the experts gathered about its potentially game-changing credentials for stalled housebuilding projects facing major grid constraints.
Among the key findings from the research among mainly SME developers working in both the residential and commercial sectors was that, despite their many challenges, connections to the grid were among their top four, alongside planning, finances, and the supply chain. Over half (58%) were finding connecting new developments to the grid a challenge, and 15% said they were seeing “significant disruption and delays.“
The event saw several consultants working with volume and SME housebuilders to overcome electricity connection challenges, giving the various perspectives which were affecting clients, and homebuyers. From the key ‘pain points’ of individual schemes to how regional approaches to managing electrical infrastructure could assist in helping ensure that housebuilding projects are higher on the priority list, and the sometimes prohibitive costs of queuing for connection, our round table covered all of the major obstacles in depth.
Another subject discussed was the importance of building and reinforcing trust among end-customers where demand-managing solutions are employed, as well as the many benefits of such innovations. With our research showing that awareness of technologies to flex energy demand being relatively low (39% said they had no awareness), there was a clear challenge in the market to raise knowledge.
Event chair James Parker, editor of Housebuilder & Developer, commented on the importance of this round table for the sector:
“This event produced some vital insights for housebuilders and particularly smaller developers who are struggling to overcome challenges with multiple constraints from skills to inflation to planning and site issues. Given the sector’s challenge to reach 1.5 million homes by 2030 and address the Future Homes Standard, practical fixes such as E.ON’s DynamiX and E.ON Networks, its IDNO business have to be considered in order that grid constraints aren’t seen as an insurmountable obstacle.”
“One of the key takeaways from this round table was that the apparently prohibitive levels of electricity demand developers are confronting may well be manageable using innovative approaches such as DynamiX, but also that the capacity issues may not be as daunting as they first seem.”
The full list of delegates for the round table were:
- Luisa Mostarda, Senior Energy Consultant, Savills
- Luke Osborne, Technical Director, Electrical Safety First/CIBSE
- Laurence Johnson, Director of Energy and Infrastructure, Hoare Lea
- Alex Jahanshahi-Edlin, Associate Director, Sustainability/ESG & Net Zero, McBains
- Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy & Market Insight, NFB (National Federation of Builders)
- Ben Tibbett, Director, BTSGB Property Consultancy
- Tobias Burke, Policy Manager for Networks & Institutional Governance, Energy UK
- Dan Neasham, Head of Sustainability & Performance, Future Homes Hub
- Rebecca Harrison-Vickers, Head of Residential New Build Transformation, E.ON Next
- John Hadley, Growth & Transformation Manager, E.ON Energy
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