SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WATER SECTOR
ADVANCING SUSTAINABILITY GOALS AT SEVERN TRENT WATER
Severn Trent Water has successfully enrolled seven sites in the Capacity Market, generating over £670,000 in revenue while supporting sustainability and resilience goals. Andrea Ferrari,
customer success manager at Enel X, comments
S
evern Trent Water is one of the UK’s largest water and wastewater utilities, supplying more
than two billion litres of clean drinking water per day to over eight million people across central England, and in North and Mid-Wales. It is proud to offer the second lowest average combined bill in England, reflecting its commitment to delivering value through strategic partnerships and forward-thinking solutions. The company wanted to explore ways to save
money on one of its biggest overheads: electricity. Electricity typically accounts for around 10% of operating costs for UK water companies, with pumping alone making up a significant portion of this. Working with Enel X, Severn Trent identified demand-side response as a potential route to reduce its OPEX by unlocking new value from its energy usage – without disrupting critical infrastructure. Severn Trent also wanted to explore how flexible
it could be with its processes, as this could help it deal with other operational challenges such as maintenance programmes, or water extraction restrictions. Participation in a demand response programme would provide it with real-world testing conditions, without risking continuity of service. As a regulated operator of critical national
infrastructure, Severn Trent must meet strict operational criteria, which places some limits on its energy flexibility. In addition, key processes and equipment might not be available for turning down during events such as storms or pipe bursts. Operational stability was therefore a fundamental requirement for any energy flexibility pilot undertaken by the business.
THE SOLUTION As a business that consumes a lot of electricity, with energy-intensive processes that can occasionally be turned down or rescheduled to help reduce demand on the grid, Severn Trent is well-placed to participate in demand-flexibility services such as the Capacity Market. This critical scheme acts as a virtual safety net, ensuring that the UK has sufficient electricity capacity to meet demand, and helping support decarbonisation
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of the electricity grid. These demand reduction programmes align with broader environmental objectives, including long- established participation of generation assets in the wider Severn Trent Group, such as biogas-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plants. In 2022/23, Severn Trent engaged Enel X as
a flexibility aggregator and technical partner for participation in the Capacity Market. Working in close partnership, the two businesses collaborated to identify candidate sites, and establish the feasibility of each. “Enel X simplified the pre-enrolment process, supporting us with feasibility assessments and proven modelling tools to forecast potential value and define viable demand-response windows,” explained Helen Ewing, energy analyst, Severn Trent Water. With operational stability a non-negotiable,
the joint team conducted a thorough audit to assess which sites and assets could safely provide flexibility without disrupting operations. This technical evaluation included analysing load profiles, operational constraints and historical energy consumption data. The audit identified five megawatts (MW) of flexible capacity across seven candidate sites, which could participate in energy flexibility trials without impacting day-to-day operations.
RELEASING REVENUE The partnership enabled Severn Trent to enrol a total of 5MW of assets in the Capacity Market and also helped demonstrate its ability to meet its capacity obligations through three mandatory satisfactory performance days (SPDs). Thereafter, Severn Trent’s participation
was based on agreed flexibility windows, and underscored by operational feasibility. The business needed to make only minor procedural adjustments to align with event schedules, with windows carefully coordinated to avoid impacting core operations while still making a valuable contribution to the Capacity Market –
ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Winter 2025
and in turn Great Britain’s energy security. To date, Severn Trent has released around
£670,000 in revenue from its Capacity Market participation. This new revenue stream has helped fund power resilience upgrades and offset rising energy costs, directly supporting the company’s mission to keep customer bills low. Furthermore, by building flexibility into its
operations, Severn Trent is actively contributing to wider grid resilience, demonstrating its commitment to not just relying on others, but playing a proactive role in strengthening the electricity system. The project has also helped demonstrate the resilience of the business’ energy systems, and supported Seven Trent’s broader sustainability targets. These include a triple carbon pledge – to be carbon zero, to use wholly renewable power, and to have an all-electric fleet of vehicles by 2030.
FLEXIBILITY In the three years Severn Trent has worked with Enel X on capacity turn-down services, the business has learned that flexibility is not just technically feasible, but strategically beneficial. What began as a one-year trial partnership has been extended, most recently with the signing of a four-year contract. “The collaboration is productive and well- structured. Enel X’s support is helping build our internal confidence in managing flexibility without risk to operational productivity,” said Stephanie Cawley, director of operations, Severn Trent Water. Severn Trent is keen to grow its participation in
the Capacity Market, scaling flexibility across more of its roughly seven thousand sites. It is keeping an eye on wider flexibility opportunities, including recent reforms that could open up the wholesale market. The company is also looking at automating more of the processes involved to reduce the need for manual action by site teams, while continuing to build on strong staff recognition of the environmental and financial benefits.
Andrea Ferrari
Enel X
www.enelx.com/uk/en
www.essmag.co.uk
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