Meet the Ambassadors - Eunice Mabey
We recently spent some time with Eunice Mabey, SSE Energy Solutions, Director of Digital Services to learn her views on reaching net zero and the solutions of the future.
How long have you been working at SSE Energy Solutions and what experience and your role been like for you?
This is my thirteenth year at SSE, time certainly does fly…..I have seen many changes over that period and have moved around the business. At times things can seem hectic and change not fully grasped by all, but I can sincerely say the improvement is so evident across those years. SSE has grown and matured so much in its journey to net zero as well as its inclusive culture. For me people are the true asset of SSE, colleagues have always been so helpful and friendly across the Group, it is such a great place to work and have a career. We have wonderful staff and ambitious targets, with the ability to make a true difference to society and global issues.
Can you tell us a little more about how Digitising Net Zero is important to businesses in their journey to net zero?
Achieving net zero is a huge task and without embracing technology and digitisation we will never get there. A prime example is how the energy system has changed, with more demand through the electrification of heat and electric vehicles, along with increasing local renewable generation. Balancing the grid is becoming more complex and therefore it is critical that we use data and technology to help navigate and accelerate the path to net zero.
Data and digitisation are key to all of those things. Assets and equipment are getting smarter, we only need to look at home to see how things have changed. From remotely controlling your heating and washing machine to smart fridges ordering your shopping. AI, IoT, smart technology has landed and will only increase. Businesses need to extract the value from their data enabling further energy reduction and optimisation on their path to net zero.
What key challenges do you think businesses have when trying to decarbonise or reach net zero?
For any size business it very complex and that shouldn’t be underestimated; knowing where and how to start when it’s not your field of expertise, changes in regulations, policy and government, the potential initial extra cost and time. And there is that little thing of having to run a business!
Data can help evidence business decisions therefore making sure smart meters are installed and half-hourly data is available is a fundamental must have. Sometimes the simple things are forgotten or not enacted as much as they could be, such as switching things off when they are not used or not needed.
Data can help with trends and energy waste as well as help build business cases for decarbonising assets and buildings. There are great tips on sites such as the Carbon Trust, or Energy Saving Trust for smaller businesses, along with services like our virtual energy manager where we can assist companies on their net zero journey, optimising and controlling energy assets whether from a cost or lowest carbon kilowatt perspective.
Tell us about a project that you've worked on incorporating decarbonisation as its focus.
A large ten story building in central London wanted to reduce carbon emissions and energy costs whilst improving the working environment for users. The ask was also to deliver the contract on a cost neutral plus basis.
Starting with the ingestion of data from meters and assets, the Digital Services team analysed the building's energy demand and then identified ways to optimise its performance. Through remote access and control, various initiatives were enacted including improvements to routines, tighter controls around assets, automated continual monitoring and predictive maintenance. The result; 7.2% reduction in CO², improved operation of the plant, payback under a year and a delighted customer. Find out more about this project here.
Whether the objective is to save money, carbon or optimise plant and working environment conditions they all tend to have a positive outcome as interlinked. I would therefore encourage any business to review or ask companies like SSE Digital Services to analyse their data with a mindset of optimising their energy assets, building or estate.
How does a Whole System Thinking approach support your clients?
Having a holistic view and optimising all of your assets and renewables against your demand, rather than in isolation, can bring true added value that currently is relatively untapped.
For me data is the key enabler to gain continual improvements across the whole system as it unlocks advanced analytics such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. In Digital Services we have the ability to take raw data from meters and manage the data quality. We can then visualise that data, along with IoT and / or open source data, to enrich insights for business decisions.
Using that data, we can create digital twins to optimise and control assets and buildings, forecast demand, and predictive maintenance requirements. Having this Whole System Approach will also enable businesses to understand if they are able to enter any of the market flexibility services as well as how carbon intensive their operations are at a half-hourly level.
Ultimately, we are looking to help customers save energy and carbon by accelerating their journey to net zero through data and technology.
Find out more about Digitising Net Zero
Discover more about how we're working with customers to harness their energy data to optimise and flex energy usage to reduce carbon emissions and costs.
