National Grid lands £15.3 million for grid development funding

Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) has awarded National Grid £15.3 million to develop new grid transmission solutions across several projects.

National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) has been granted £8,500,724 for a project that seeks to develop a net-zero electricity network by creating a strategy to remove SF₆ gas from the network, while National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) has been awarded £6,856,750 for two projects that support local decision making on regional energy planning through new digital platforms.

One project funded through this system is the PRIDE (Planning Regional Infrastructure in a Digital Environment) project, a collaboration between NGED, Advanced Infrastructure, West Midlands Combined Authority, Regen and National Grid ESO to accelerate regional energy planning to hit net zero targets.

This project will combine governance structures with Advance Infrastructure’s LAEP+ platform to develop digital twins of the local power network to better plan future network developments.

Advanced Infrastructure CEO and co-founder Christopher Jackson said: “NGED’s support in rolling out this tool to local authorities allows us to support the public sector in developing the skills and capabilities to deliver net zero.

“The BETA phase of the PRIDE project is a pivotal moment in demonstrating the value of digital innovation in the local area energy planning process across the West Midlands; and by leveraging digital twins and granular data built upon Advanced Infrastructure’s LAEP+ platform.”

Sean Coleman, SIF manager at National Grid Electricity Transmission, said: “Innovation of new technologies and solutions is critical to meeting our decarbonisation goals and delivering the UK’s ambition for a net zero energy system.

“This funding represents a major opportunity for us to reduce and eventually eliminate our dependency on the greenhouse gas SF₆, to deepen our understanding of SF₆-free technologies and maintain the world-class reliability of our network.

“This is a key example of how National Grid and its partners in industry and academia are working together to solve some of the sector’s biggest challenges and drive forward the energy transition at pace.”

Paul Morris, head of future capacity at National Grid Electricity Distribution added: “National Grid Electricity Distribution is committed to driving innovation and collaboration to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy future.

“The funding awards from the Ofgem SIS recognise the huge potential in both of these projects, and will enable us to further develop and deploy these cutting-edge solutions that contribute to achieving net zero and improving customer experience.”