Ofgem, the non-ministerial government department also known as the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, has announced a new scheme which will support three National Grid-led projects focused on developing electricity transmission and distribution network innovations with £1.3 million in funding.

Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) programme is designed to drive the innovation needed to transform gas and electricity networks for a low-carbon future. The projects are funded by energy network users and consumers through Ofgem’s SIF scheme, which is managed in partnership with Innovate UK.

National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) has been awarded £875,000 for two projects that will help develop a secure net zero electricity network. Projects include development of a long-term strategy to remove electrical insulating gas SF6 from the network, and an initiative to introduce a new way to assess the resilience of the whole electricity system in Britain.

National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) has been awarded £499,874 for a project in partnership with West Midlands Combined Authority and Advanced Infrastructure to investigate integrating datasets from a variety of sources on a single digital platform, to support local decision-making on regional energy planning for net zero.

Both NGET and NGED will be collaborating with National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) on a separate SIF-funded Powering Wales Renewably project to accelerate low carbon energy in Wales. NGET will also collaborate on the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)-led REACT project, whilst NGED is working with Wales and West Utilities (WWU) on the NextGen Electrolysis project.

The innovation projects will provide critical learnings and research to help inform the future development of a net zero energy system, at the same time as delivering significant benefits to consumers.

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