Ofgem has provided a total of £16.2 million to 16 projects to help drive the transformation of the UK’s energy networks.
The Strategic Innovation Fund has been created in partnership with Innovate UK to help projects address faster infrastructure delivery, consumer-led decarbonisation, green gas, system visibility, flexible charging and outage resilience.
The cash has funded Data-Integrated Systems for Power Transmission and Community Heat (DISPTACH) which will investigate how datacentres can be sited to provide low-temperature waste heat.
The Routing and Planning through Interoperable Data (RAPID) project will develop a shared transmission data framework to streamline routing, planning and consent in order to reduce delays and cost. This programme will work towards the goal of delivery infrastructure 50% faster and 20% cheaper by 2035.
Jodie Giles, Deputy Director Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund at Innovate UK said: “In this round we aren’t just funding projects, but a new operating model that is changing the culture of energy network innovation.”
Financing from the regulator will also create simpler plug-and-play EV charging outside the home by linking household electricity accounts to public chargers, giving drivers access to their home account, smart tariffs and rates.
Demand-side flexibility is also expected to be transformed by the funding, as the cash will support flexible network operation to reduce the likelihood and impact of outages.
Each project will be supported by an Innovation Delivery Group (IDG), made up of representatives from energy networks and experts from across the sector.
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