Meet the Ambassadors - Tom Ching
We sat down with Tom Ching, Sector Director DCDA & BEI at SSE Energy Solutions for Digital Services. Tom shared with us how Digitising Net Zero is important to businesses in their journey to net zero.
How long have you been working at SSE Energy Solutions and what has the experience and your role been like for you?
In February, I stepped into the role of Sector Director for our Smart Data Collection and Aggregation service and Business Energy Intelligence platform. It will be my job to ensure we oversee, identify and capitalise on every possible energy optimising opportunity for our customers stemming from the areas of smart data management and energy optimisation platforms amongst the oncoming backdrop of mandatory market wide half-hourly settlement across our industry.
For me, moving into this role almost feels a culmination of all of my energy & business knowledge, experiences and lessons learned to date, which has seen me begin as a qualified chartered accountant in corporate finance and oil & gas, through to performing commercial analysis and project management for various SSE projects over the last 8 years, including onshore wind, energy from waste, carbon capture, and most recently, non-domestic smart metering and smart data. I intend to draw upon all of this experience as much as I can to help us navigate the new exciting opportunities in the world of digital energy optimisation.
My SSE journey has been such an amazing eye opener, and what I most value in my time with SSE is seeing how our diverse, talented people never stop anticipating and thinking about how we support not just our customers and business partners, but the communities around us, to stay on track to achieve net zero and play our part to deliver solutions that directly tackle climate change head on.
Can you tell us a little more about how Digitising Net Zero is important to businesses in their journey to net zero?
I always tend to swap ‘importance’ for ‘relevance’ when discussing net zero with businesses and our partners.
Once businesses understand how the energy landscape around them is changing at an ever-increasing rate, particularly here in the UK – it becomes clear to them that energy and decarbonisation isn’t just about anticipating a utility cost every month.
It becomes a relevant, closer to home subject that triggers further thought at their next strategy meeting around how their business adapts, functions, operates and ultimately survives in a commercial environment that rewards green credentials, sustainable practices and reserves judgement based on the size and magnitude of a business’s carbon footprint.
And the quickest way to begin assessing or shaping that strategy, is through utilising the digital tools and optimisation platform insights on offer through our Digital Services.
What key challenges do you think businesses have when trying to decarbonise or reach net zero?
For me – the absolute overall challenge I see, is pace.
Are businesses supported with the right strategy, resources and expertise to keep up with the pace of the transition in our energy environment and network, to capitalise on the latest energy optimisation services and assets to reduce energy costs faster, to reduce their carbon footprint quick enough so as to not lose customers who seek and value greener credentials.
That is exactly why SSE Distributed Energy and Digital Services is in the best position to be that partner for businesses who want to keep up with the pace of the energy transition and net zero journey. Through our Whole Systems Thinking approach, we have the ability to step in and support businesses at any stage of their net zero journey with the right tools, platforms, data and expertise to help them keep up with the pace of the net zero transition.
Tell us about a project that you've worked on incorporating decarbonisation as its focus
In recent years, my area of specialism has centred around delivering smart metering to non-domestic businesses. But extending from that – has then been working closely with the data and insight generated by smart meters to identify energy optimisation and decarbonisation opportunities.
To me – smart metering data is probably the most powerful resource that you don’t necessarily think about yet but will soon to take for granted.
Already, smart metering data automatically enables and places customers on the most optimised tariffs, whilst at the same time, works seamlessly to signal to whatever connected energy assets you have to operate in such a way that guarantees you the lowest operational energy costs on site, and optimises your drawdown on the energy network to reduce your carbon footprint.
The fact that all of this happens in the blink of an eye and can be kicked off from a quick press of a button from a desktop platform or mobile app to me, highlights the serious decarbonising power residing behind smart metering.
And in my new role as Sector Director for DCDA and our Business Energy Intelligence Platform – we see that as merely scratching the surface of what else is possible.
How does a Whole System Thinking approach support your clients?
The amount of energy optimization, carbon and digital energy management opportunities that exist around a net zero journey are incredible, and in fact, boundless. To my earlier point around pace, every day, something new, particularly within digital, is developed or improved to help customers achieve further energy optimisation, reduce costs or indeed, make the steps towards net zero, far easier. With that in mind, our Whole System Thinking means you can come to us at any stage of your energy journey and be assured that we have the latest diverse tools, expertise and energy management credentials to tap into those boundless opportunities and crucially, ensure we keep you ahead of the optimisation curve, not behind it. With Whole System Thinking - it absolutely is “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – Not only do we deliver that ‘whole’ with our digital services, systems and platforms, but through the collective sum, passion & expertise of our people too.
