The Local Distribution Network

SP Energy Networks operate and maintain the distribution network around Cheshire as part of their MANWEB licence area. The area is complex, with a mix of industrial, commercial, urban and rural topographies.

Much of the rural network is supplied by pole mounted transformers which we are not monitoring as part of this project, however you will be able to find examples of network covering these other load types.

The MANWEB license area is unusual because many parts of it are 'meshed'. This means that customers on the network are often linked to more than one substation, providing improved reliability and security of supply than on a radial network where supply comes from a single substation. It can make the load profiles more difficult to interrogate however, so this should be remembered when viewing this data.

Even so, there are some substations where the type of load can be easily identified. The graph below, taken from a substation on the Cheshire Oaks Retail park, shows a profile that could be expected from commercial premises where the load high across the day (the shops at Cheshire Oaks remain open through the evening, hence the high load continues for longer).

And profile below from suburban network demonstrates a typical unrestricted domestic pattern, with higher usage around the morning breakfast and lunchtimes and very pronounced evening teatime peak.