SSEN Distribution has secured £17.8m to advance two major innovation projects into their Beta phase, enabling large, real-world trials designed to strengthen local electricity networks and prepare them for future demand.

The funding, awarded through Ofgem's Strategic Innovation Fund in partnership with Innovate UK and supplemented by contributions from SSEN and its collaborators, will accelerate practical testing of nature-based interventions and data-led planning methods.

Nature4Networks will demonstrate how natural solutions can protect network assets while enhancing the environment and biodiversity. Instead of relying on traditional engineered barriers, the project will assess the use of trees, natural troughs and targeted planting to safeguard infrastructure in a changing climate.

The Beta phase will include planting carefully designed native woodland corridors at two locations alongside 1.5 km of network to test protection for overhead lines; trialling bioswale natural drainage channels to contain any leaks from substation equipment; and deploying a range of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) around substations to reduce flood risk.

These trials build on earlier project phases, which indicated that nature-based measures can lower costs, reduce power cuts and deliver environmental benefits for customers and communities.

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Nature4Networks partners are GHD, Frontier Economics, James Hutton Institute, Guidehouse and Great Yellow.

Pathways to 2050 is a three-year programme to transform planning for low-voltage networks so they can accommodate growing uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps and rooftop solar. With tens of thousands of local substations and hundreds of thousands of feeder lines across SSEN's areas, the project will use a proactive, data-led approach to anticipate where and when investment is needed—or where alternatives may be more effective.

By combining network data, local forecasts and customer insights, planners and designers will be able to target fit-for-purpose solutions for each community. The work includes identifying where flexibility services can manage demand to defer or reduce the need for physical reinforcement, lowering costs and disruption while maintaining reliability, and ensuring any required upgrades are delivered more efficiently.

The programme aims to make decarbonisation simpler, more affordable and more accessible for customers, while supporting a secure, resilient and sustainable electricity system.

Pathways to 2050 partners are Faculty, Sia, Energy Systems Catapult, IFS Copperleaf, James Hutton Institute, National Farmers Union of Scotland and Low Carbon Hub.

Frank Clifton, Innovation Manager at SSEN Distribution, said: "This vote of confidence in Nature4Networks and Pathways to 2050 will turn these projects into vehicles for developing real-world answers to some of the greatest challenges we face as an electricity distribution network.

"By harnessing the power of nature and the power of data, these two projects will deliver sustainable, tangible, smart solutions that will benefit all our customers and communities. As we embark on this exciting next stage, my thanks are due not only to our in-house innovation team, but also to our numerous project partners who are supporting us every step of the way on this journey."

Both projects have progressed to the Strategic Innovation Fund's Beta phase. SSEN notes that its five newly funded innovation projects together account for around half of this cycle's total SIF funding. Ofgem's most recent annual report on the electricity distribution sector highlighted that SSEN invested the highest sum in innovation via the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA), with its 2024/25 NIA investment exceeding the combined total of four of the other five distribution network operators—supporting Ofgem's call for network companies to go beyond business as usual to find smarter, more cost-effective ways of working.