Spatial analytics firm Advanced Infrastructure, consultancy Global City Futures (GCF) and engineering firm Arup have been awarded a contract to develop a net zero planning platform for the West of England as part of the Mission Net Zero project led by Bristol City Council and funded by Innovate UK.
The project will make use of Advanced Infrastructure’s Local Area Energy Planner Plus (LAEP+) software platform. LAEP+ software has already been deployed in over 200 towns and cities in the UK and is used by half of all the UK’s distribution network operators (DNOs). In the West of England, this platform will be used to establish the baseline state of the energy system in the region and identify the highest priority areas for decarbonisation interventions.
Following the gathering of this data, Arup, Advanced Infrastructure and GCF will work together to develop a pipeline of decarbonisation projects to ensure the West of England can reach its ambitious target of net zero carbon emissions by the year 2030.
Across the next six months, this collaboration between the three firms will deliver a costed plan to direct energy investment in the region in the coming years, including plans to upgrade the grid to support the installation of new solar power generation projects and EV chargepoint installations.
Christopher Jackson, CEO of Advanced Infrastructure, said that the collaboration will “revolutionise how the region plans for net zero, providing a powerful, data-driven framework to unlock investment and accelerate climate action”.
He added: “By bringing together key players across the public and private sectors, this initiative will help drive the large-scale transformation needed to meet net zero commitments.”
Councillor Martin Fodor, chair of the environment and sustainability committee at Bristol City Council, said: “Through Mission Net Zero we are working to speed up Bristol and the West of England‘s transition to net zero by addressing some of the barriers to progress such as finding money for improvements and having the skilled professionals to do them.”
As well as the LAEP+ platform, Advanced Infrastructure has developed other tools to help more green energy projects connect to the grid in the most beneficial way for local areas. In November last year, the company partnered with Irish DSO ESB Networks to deploy a pilot scheme giving local authorities, EV chargepoint developers and other medium-voltage demand clients access to an online self-screening tool.
This intends to allow them to assess and adapt their proposals before formally submitting connection requests, with the aim of reducing the number of connection applications over time to those most likely to be accepted for a connection.
