Two SSEN Transmission projects which focus on innovation in the transmission sector have been awarded funding to progress into the first Beta phase of Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).
Between them the Incentive and the Network DC and Circuit Breakers projects have been award £7.1m.
SIF is 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.
SSEN Transmission’s projects which receive the award are funded by network users and consumers under the SIF programme.
The two schemes – Network DC Circuit Breakers and Incentive – will now progress into the third and final phase of development, known as Beta.
While the initial two phases are dedicated to mitigating technical uncertainties and establishing proof-of-concept projects, the third and final stage aims to propel the development of full-scale demonstrator projects to advance the solutions further up the technology readiness level (TRL) and pave the way for implementation.
With the increasing capacity of offshore wind, innovative solutions are required to facilitate the rapid roll-out of this intermittent generation to support grid balancing and address stability challenges.
Without this, the GB grid will become weaker which will lead to issues in system operation including increasing the likelihood of blackouts and maintaining reliance on fossil fuel generators.
The Incentive project was awarded £1.1m to investigate new solutions to address this by demonstrating the use of innovative voltage, current and frequency control technologies coupled with energy storage at the point of onshore connection of offshore wind farms.
Scotland’s transmission network has a critical role to play in supporting the delivery of the UK’s net zero targets.
The Network DC project was awarded £6m to enable the use of DC circuit breakers (DCCBs) in onshore HVDC hubs.
DCCBs could help combine HVDC links that join two points in the network and an export cable from a wind farm in one hub, without needing to build additional stations to change the electricity current from DC to AC and back.
This will reduce the amount of infrastructure required to deliver net zero, reducing environmental impact and delivering a more flexible and cost-effective network.
The completion of this Beta phase project will provide a pathway to making DCCBs a viable option for implementation in HVDC network development projects in the UK.