Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has won £343,000 for its Regional Energy System Optimisation Planning (RESOP) project, from Ofgem’s Network Innovation Allowance.
The project will support knowledge sharing between network operators and stakeholders, in an effort to help the Scottish government reach its decarbonisation targets. It will identify the impact of the plans of local authorities and other stakeholders on energy networks, and which low carbon technologies can manage this impact.
It aims to support the delivery of local objectives and identify the need for network investment.
The project is beginning in January 2020 and will last for 18 months, allowing SSEN to develop a model to optimise outputs for local stakeholders, who will then be trained to use the model to help inform their decision making going forwards.
Stewart Reid, head of future networks at SSEN said the RESOP will be a “key tool” in helping the network work with local, regional and national government “to understand the impact of major trends that will shape the energy system over the course of the 2020s and beyond”.
“This learning will be fundamental in providing a resilient network as we transition to a net zero economy.”
The project forms part of the £7.5 million partnership between SSEN, the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and SP Energy Networks, to help deliver more electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
SSEN has been looking into the EV rollout in a number of different ways, including installing electric vehicle and demand monitors at 200 of its substations last year, after testing of the low cost monitors was completed.
