Rhys works as an Innovation Project Manger within the Future Networks Team at SSEN. Rhys has worked within the Energy Industry for over 8 years, 5 of which have been at SSEN. Rhys has been involved in the large number of innovation projects including Risk Assessment Modelling of Smart nEtwork Solution (RAMSES), which investigates the risks associate with smart network solutions in a future Distribution System Operator (DSO) world and Informed Lightning Projection, which utilises machine learning to understand where to optimally install lightning protection for highest return on investment.
Modelling the Economic Reactions Linking Individual Networks
Project Merlin (MERLIN) is a collaborative UK-Canada initiative under the Power Forward Challenge, designed to deepen understanding of how economic factors will shape the future of electricity networks amid the rapid integration of distributed energy resources (DER). With rising demands from electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy variability expected to multiply DER services on networks, potentially numbering in the hundreds or thousands.
MERLIN employs advanced tools like Opus One’s GridOS for economic modelling to assess cost impacts, guide investment choices, and optimize DER portfolio management from both physical and financial perspectives. Led by partners including Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), Opus One Solutions, Open Grid Systems, the University of Cambridge's Energy Policy Research Group, and Hydro Ottawa, the project advances smart energy technologies through enhanced cost-benefit analyses, improved market access for flexibility providers, and automated network modelling.
The project concluded in October 2021, delivering a suite of tools, reports, and recommendations. Several of these were further tested on the TRANSITION project, undertaken as part of the Local Energy Oxfordshire programme
About the project
Learn more about Project MERLIN in detail below:
Watch our video for more information:
What are the benefits of Project Merlin?
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MERLIN will inform the wider DSO community on the impact of flexible investments
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MERLIN will help our understanding on the economic impact of traditional vs flexible investments
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MERLIN is trialling live spot market simulations using our Oxfordshire network data
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MERLIN is simulating the impact of flexibility services on our rural networks
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MERLIN will deploy substation monitoring to improve data quality
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MERLIN will utilise novel smart platforms to perform advanced economic modelling
Meet the team
Find out more about the people who are responsible for making Project MERLIN work:
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Michael Pollitt – Professor of Business Economics
Michael Pollitt is Professor of Business Economics at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is an Assistant Director of the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG), an academic director in energy for the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) and the Vice President for Publications of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). He has worked on the productivity and efficiency effects of liberalisation in the electricity sector since his PhD. He has published papers across a wide range of disciplines including ethics, engineering, economics and management. His current research interests centre around the market design and regulation of electricity systems with high percentages of intermittent renewable energy.
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Karim Anaya – Senior Research Associate
Karim is a Senior Research Associate at the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG), University of Cambridge. She holds a doctoral degree in Energy Economics and master’s degree in Technology Policy from University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. Karim has over fifteen years’ experience working in the public utility regulatory arena with a focus on energy, telecommunications and water. She has advised different organisations and companies such as United Nations, World Bank, CERRE, public utilities regulators and electricity network operators. Her most recent work relates to future electricity network regulation, economics of distributed energy resources and smart energy platforms, sustainable and renewable
technologies, energy market reforms and productivity and efficiency analysis of utility networks. She has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
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Rhys Williams – Innovation Project Manager
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Charlie Edwards – DSO Commercial Manager
Charlie has 7 year’s experience in energy innovation working across projects as both a project manager and commercial technical expertise. With a background in Economics and Psychology (MSc) and a keen interest in management psychology Charlie is supporting MERLIN in its application to wider DSO strategy. Charlie is passionate about environmental sustainability and has preferences towards more social constructs within economics.
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Daniel Burke – Oxfordshire Program Industry Liaison Manager
Daniel Burke works with the SSEN Future Networks department as the Oxfordshire Program Industry Liaison Manager. Daniel has a Bachelors in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from University College Cork, Ireland (2006), and a PhD in optimal electricity network planning with renewable sources from University College Dublin, Ireland (2010). He has worked for numerous companies including Energy Exemplar/PLEXOS in London as a Lead Energy Market Analyst, National Grid ESO in Warwick where he was a Senior Analyst, University College Dublin as a senior researcher and occasional lecturer, Australian Energy Market Operator in Melbourne where he was a power systems analyst engineer and he is also the Chair of the international IEEE Resource Adequacy Working Group.
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Patrick Brown – Regulatory Policy & Research Manager
Patrick has served on the Regulatory Affairs team at Hydro Ottawa since 2016. In this role, he coordinates the company’s engagement on public policy initiatives and performs research on key policy and industry trends. Prior to joining Hydro Ottawa, he managed Canada-U.S. electricity issues for the Canadian Electricity Association, the chief trade group representing electric utilities across the country. Over the course of a 12-year career in the energy industry, he has cultivated expertise in the legislative, regulatory, policy, and stakeholder relations arenas. While the bulk of his experience lies in the electricity sector, he spent several years as a consultant supporting clients in the oil and gas sectors as well.
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Raed Abdullah – P.Eng., IEEE SM Distribution Engineer
Raed is presently in the Grid Technology Team that’s become the IT/OT convergence point at Hydro Ottawa Limited. What’s formed his approach to innovation over the past 29-years at the distribution utility has been: the many roles he’s played in Energy Management, Customer Service, and Asset Planning; the many tasks he’s undertaken on electric transportation, renewable generation interconnections, urban planning and design, smart grid development (esp. as the MiGen Ph. I Initiator and Project Lead), plus in standards, business process, regulatory & financial matters; plus his experiencing supporting recovery from a few grid disaster events such as the Ice Storm and Eastern Canada Blackout.
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Hari Suthan Subramaniam – Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions
Hari Suthan Subramaniam is the Chief of Strategic Growth for Opus One Solutions, with over 20 years of experience in R&D, marketing and management consulting. Prior to joining Opus One, he was the CEO of eCamion Inc., a community energy storage company and Vice Chair of Energy Storage Ontario. Hari was also a Vice President with GE Canada’s National Executive team where he drove growth in Canada by seeking out market opportunities across GE platforms and larger infrastructure projects. Additionally, he served in senior roles within Canada’s Provincial and Federal governments, including Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and member of the Government Transition Team for the Premier of Ontario as well as Federal Ministers of Canada. Hari is also a veteran of the Canadian Navy. Hari currently sits on the board of Centre for Urban Energy at Ryerson University and has previously served on the Boards of the Distributed Energy Association of Canada, McGill University, and Rouge Valley Health System.
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Hisham Omara – Vice President, Strategic Growth
Hisham Omara is the Vice President of Strategic Growth at Opus One Solutions, with over 10 years of experience in the utilities sector in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Omara has engaged in a wide variety of business and strategic planning projects for firms competing in the electric power business, focusing on the design, development, procurement and deployment of smart grids and energy efficiency solutions. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester.
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Paula Meehan – Project Manager
Paula is a Project Manager within the Professional Services Team at Opus One Solutions. She is responsible for managing a number of Government funded projects delivering the GridOS suite to utilities across Europe and North America. Paula has a PhD in Energy Engineering from Dublin City University analysing the electrical signals of domestic appliances for identification and energy monitoring. Prior to joining Opus One, Paula spent 3 years working as a Project Manager in a Telecoms SaaS company.
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Lobna El Gammal – Consultant
Lobna is a consultant at Opus One solutions. Lobna has worked on energy and environmental policy in San Francisco’s regional government agency and at the City of Pittsburgh. She completed graduate research on environmental vulnerability mapping 
and studies in chemical engineering and energy engineering. Lobna has 2 years of sustainable development work experience abroad.
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Jenson Lam – Consultant
Jenson is a consultant at Opus One Solutions. He has experience in asset management and strategic planning with Toronto Hydro’s Long Term Strategy and Planning department. He holds a Bachelors in Applied Sciences with a major in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Toronto.
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Gerhard Walker – Director, Solutions Strategy and Partnerships
Gerhard is the Director of Grid Evolution at Opus One. Gerhard’s expertise is in high DER penetration distribution grids. Prior to Opus One, he was the Director of Grid Solutions at Current, powered by GE. He started his career working at the German Distribution System Operator Netze BW where his roles included project management, grid lab leadership, policy, grid evolution strategy and leading a smart grid competence center. He holds a PhD. From the University of Stuttgart for his work in distribution planning and electric charging infrastructure integration.
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Ben Ullman – Product Manager, TEMS
Ben Ullman is the Product Manager for Transactive Energy Management Systems at Opus One Solutions. Prior to joining Opus One, Ben spent over four years at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as an Economist investigating allegations of market manipulation in power and gas. He was also a Managing Consultant where he worked on economic valuation in North American energy markets. Ben holds a MA in Economics from Boston University and a MS in Management from UCLA Anderson.
Additional Project Merlin pages:
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Merlin Workstreams
The Workstreams in Project Merlin, structured as six Work-Packages (WP1–WP6), represent a phased framework of interconnected initiatives that drive the project's execution from foundational planning to real-world application and dissemination.
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Merlin Library
Click below to view our archived Merlin Library, showcasing Milestone 0-8, Closure Reports and Presentations. Explore the journey from concept to completion and see how each phase shaped the final outcome.