Two innovative projects spearheaded by SSEN Distribution, aimed at facilitating decarbonisation within the vital healthcare and food production sectors, have been awarded a combined total of almost £280,000 in innovation funding from Ofgem.

The 'FORTRESS' project, an acronym for "flexibility and optimisation for resilience in energy systems," is designed to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy at critical sites such as hospitals and water treatment plants. These facilities are significant energy consumers, but their demand has historically been less visible to Distribution Network Operators due to on-site power generation, typically through the combustion of fossil fuels. As these sites move away from high-carbon sources, their reliance on local electricity grids will increase substantially.

The FORTRESS project has been granted £146,000 in Discovery phase funding. This will enable the project team to collaborate with NHS Tayside as a key case study to gain a deeper understanding of the specific electricity usage patterns within hospitals, from ensuring critical care capabilities to heating buildings. This work is crucial for advancing the decarbonisation of hospitals, a transition that will necessitate a considerable increase in capacity across all Distribution networks. The insights gained from this project will inform broader studies on the most effective strategies for decarbonising these and similar essential sites.

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The second successful project, 'FARM' – standing for "future agricultural resilience mapping" – will focus on understanding the future energy requirements and pathways to decarbonisation for the domestic farming industry. On-farm food production accounts for over two-thirds of the UK's land use, yet the sector remains largely dependent on fossil fuels and is also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The FARM project has been awarded £133,000 in Discovery funding. This funding will support investigations into the impact of food production on the electricity distribution system, with the aim of identifying areas where network reinforcement will be necessary. The project will also develop a data-driven tool to inform future network planning. Through this work, FARM seeks to bridge the gap between the evolving energy demands of food production and future electricity network infrastructure.

Both the FORTRESS and FARM projects have successfully navigated the Strategic Innovation Fund's ‘Discovery' phase. The Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

Gemma Ennis, FORTRESS Project Delivery Manager at SSEN Distribution, commented: "This innovation funding will allow us to do important work to help decarbonise society, which will be for the benefit of all of us. Hospitals are at the centres of communities we serve, and it's a priority for us to work with health authorities to help them decarbonise."

She added: "The work we'll now be able to do will give us an invaluable understanding of hospitals' energy needs, which in turn will help our planning of the most-efficient local electricity networks. I'd like to thank our partners at Ricardo and NHS Tayside for their support with this project".

Cori Critchlow-Watton, FARM Project Delivery Manager at SSEN Distribution, said: "Food production is a cornerstone of our vital agricultural sector. Like all other industries, it's facing the challenges and opportunities that come with decarbonisation. This means that clean electricity will replace fossil fuels, and as a network operator covering large, rural swathes of the north of Scotland and central southern England, we've a responsibility to ensure local networks can support this necessary transition."

She concluded: "The funding awarded to FARM will ensure important work can go ahead to understand how the food production sector will develop in the years to come, and the implications this will have for the electricity system. I'd like to thank our partners the James Hutton Institute, SAOS, and the Energy Systems Catapult for their hard work and commitment which has resulted in the securing of this funding."