Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has installed 81 low-voltage monitors in another step for Project Local Energy Oxfordshire (Project LEO).
The monitors can alert the DNO in real time to changes in demand, allowing it to target investment in grid upgrades and therefore helping to delay or avoid network reinforcement.
With demand on electricity networks expected to triple by 2050 according to the Committee on Climate Change as a result of consumers increasingly turning to electrified transport and heating, it is becoming more important to ensure grids can manage this growth.
For example, Oxford alone is expected to have over 71,000 electric vehicles, 58,000 heat pumps and 63MW of solar PV capacity by 2050.
SSEN’s Project LEO is preparing for this shift in energy usage, and the new monitors are set to play a role through data gathering.
Craig Rankin, SSEN’s head of region for Ridgeway, said the installation of the monitors provides the DNO with “extensive and detailed live data that will support our innovative smart grid trials as part of Project LEO and in targeting future investment on the road to net zero”.
“With the uptake of low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles set to significantly increase in the future, the data provided by these new monitors will play a key role in helping us understand and respond to changes in demand and by provide more opportunities for a smarter and more flexible electricity system.”
Project LEO was first announced in April 2019, and moved into its second phase in May 2019, which included the rollout of Minimum Viable Systems.
