Ofgem announce £84m funding for energy trials

Ofgem has approved £84 million funding for a dozen beta projects, awarded through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

Beta projects represent the next phase of research, following feasibility and proof-of-concept work and allow for the testing of innovation at a scale that can support future commercialisation.

Ofgem, in partnership with Innovate UK, aims to find and fund ambitious, innovative projects which could shape the future of the gas and electricity networks and potentially be commercially successful.

For this, the second round of SIF Innovation Challenges,  Ofgem identified four areas they wanted applicants to explore:

• Supporting a just energy transition
• Preparing for a net zero power system
• Improving energy system resilience and robustness
• Accelerating decarbonisation of major energy demands

Marzia Zafar, Deputy Director of Digitalisation and Innovation at Ofgem, said: ‘The Strategic Innovation Fund’s latest round of £84 million funding underscores Ofgem’s unwavering commitment to revolutionise the energy system.

‘As the race to hit net zero accelerates, we are empowering the ecosystem to develop bold, transformational projects that can prove their viability and offer significant benefits for the GB billpayer.

‘From addressing issues of resilience and affordability for billpayers, to harnessing the potential of homegrown renewable power and flexible energy use. We are delighted to take these ideas to the next level.’

The 12 projects are:

Flexible railway energy hubs
Funding award: £8,256,616

• The flexible railway energy hubs will demonstrate a transformative approach to accelerate the decarbonisation of the single largest electricity consumer, Network Rail.

Heatropolis (pictured above)
Funding award: £9,743,620

• Heatropolis is developing a groundbreaking technical and commercial framework. This involves unlocking better outcomes between heat and electricity networks using data to maximise the use of electricity network capacity, so that heat networks can be decarbonised faster.

Planning Regional Infrastructure in a Digital Environment (PRIDE)
Funding award: £3,733,400

• PRIDE is using a digital tool to model changes to electricity, heat, gas, transport, digital and water infrastructure, to inform decisions on investing in decarbonisation.

Powering Wales renewably
Funding award: £10,353,633

• Powering Wales renewably involves network companies and local government collaborating to accelerate low-carbon energy in Wales, taking a whole electricity system approach.

SIF blade black start demonstrator from offshore wind
Funding award: £ 4,850,905

• SIF blade black start demonstrator from offshore wind is investigating how new technology can enable wind farms to restore the grid following a blackout, instead of fossil fuel generators.

CReDo+ Climate Resilience Demonstrator (extension to new climate risks)
Funding award: £9,806,929

• CReDo is developing tools to help predict likely risks to energy networks from extreme weather events.

D-suite
Funding award: £ 8,065, 746

• D-suite is exploring how power electronics devices can help monitor and manage low-voltage distribution networks, in the face of growing demand for renewable electricity.

Multi resilience
Funding award: £6,255,384

• Multi resilience is working on coordinated solutions for cost effective resilient services that maintain customer supply during unplanned grid outages, particularly in rural locations that have a heightened risk of outage.

NextGen electrolysis: wastewater to green hydrogen
Funding award: £5,866,292

• NextGen electrolysis aims to reduce the cost of producing hydrogen, by using wastewater rather than high-purity water for the electrolysis process.

Phased switch system
Funding award: £3,123,350

• Phased switch system is reducing the load on our energy system to improve capacity, lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the likelihood of customer voltage issues preventing participation in flexibility services.

SF6 whole life strategy
Funding award: £8,500,724

• The SF6 whole life strategy project is exploring ways to end the use of sulphur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas in electrical systems.

UK Power Networks will be leading on three of the projects (SHIELD, CReDo+ and Heatropolis). Their Head of Innovation, Luca Grella said: ‘We’ve been a big supporter of the Strategic Innovation Fund over the past 12 months, and now is where the fun really begins.

‘It’s incredibly exciting, not only to be dramatically scaling up the scope of these projects, but to be working alongside some of the brightest minds in our sector to bring them to life. We work with dozens upon dozens of partners every year to help shape the future of our industry, and we look forward to strengthening those relationships further.’