NPADDS Prototype Functionality and Benefits Case
Overview
The prototype Network Planning and Design Decision Support (NPADDS) software tool described in this report has been developed by Northern Powergrid and EA Technology as part of the Customer-Led Network Revolution (CLNR) project.
Within the CLNR project, the role of NPADDS has been to identify and demonstrate a design of a future network decision support tool that can incorporate low carbon technologies and CLNR technologies and learning into a DNO’s Business As Usual (BAU) practices, and evaluate these alongside conventional methods within a consistent and streamlined framework.
As such, a guiding principle for the software has been to deliver value for a DNO’s existing design an planning activities, whilst also enabling assessments of ‘smart’ network technologies and low carbon technologies. A key aim has also been to build in functionality that narrows down appropriate solutions, whether conventional or smart, to a given network constraint.
Two primary outputs have been delivered as part of the NPADDS work package:
- A prototype software tool completed to a proof-of-concept level with respect to network headroom assessment, data structures, user interface and representation of low carbon technologies and CLNR technologies; this report presents the functionality of that prototype.
- An NPADDS Enduring Specification that describes a full list of requirements that would enable Northern Powergrid or other DNOs to tender/procure a BAU product, including functionality outside of the CLNR prototype scope
This document describes the approach, methods and functionality of the NPADDS prototype, with the aim of assisting Northern Powergrid (as a proxy for other DNOs) to make an informed decision for the integration of NPADDS as part of the future development of design and planning tools.
