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Ofgem has awarded funding of £1.2 million from its Strategic Innovation Fund to progress three SSEN Transmission projects in their transition to net zero.
These projects will advance into the Alpha phase to develop innovative data-driven tools to transform transmission infrastructure.
The Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) is an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and is designed to drive the innovation needed to transform gas and electricity networks for a low-carbon future. These projects are funded by network users and consumers under SIF.
SSEN Transmission's projects - INSIGHT, REACT and NIMBUS - have been successful in securing funding from the £450 million SIF pot that is available throughout the RIIO-2 price control period for network companies. These projects have already completed the initial three-month Discovery phase to overcome the technical uncertainties of the project and will progress into the six-month Alpha phase in October 2023 to establish proof-of-concept.
Since the fund was launched in 2021, SSEN Transmission has progressed six innovative projects in the themes: whole energy systems, net zero and the energy transition, and optimised assets and practices. Recently, they were awarded funding to advance two projects into the Beta stage – making SSEN Transmission one of the first energy networks to reach this phase.
Alan Ritchie, Innovation Manager at SSEN Transmission said: "Through SIF we have advanced six projects across the three phases of the programme so far, which we are thrilled to achieve. Our three projects advancing into the Alpha phase will help us gain a deeper understanding of what our future network could look like.
"The projects aim to develop tools and data processes that will help us to stabilise the network, visualise connection requests, and predict the impact of weather events and climate change, all of which will help us plan better for a net zero network."
The projects involve close collaboration with 12 partners, consisting of other electricity and gas network operators and industry innovators.
