A network management pilot project led by SP Energy Networks in Dunbar, Scotland, created jobs, stimulated economic growth, provided community benefit and connected more renewables than would have been possible without it, a new report by Regen has found.
The Active Network Management (ANM) trial, funded as part of the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, started in early in 2012.
It lasted over four years testing a number of technical and commercial innovations exploring how the technology could be more widely used ahead of planned reinforcement work in areas where the network is constrained.
The trial enabled four new projects, totalling 50MW of generation, to connect to an export constrained network, and one existing 48MW wind farm to upgrade from its previous constrained connection to an ANM flexible connection.
The increase in generation in the local area reduced carbon emissions, facilitated the creation of 56 full time equivalent jobs, provided £75,000 of community benefit for the lifetime of the connected projects and added £61m to the Scottish economy, of which over £7m was in the local area specifically.
ANM is a way of managing connections into the electricity network, which is responsible for connecting generation, like renewables, into the grid.
SP Energy Networks network planning and regulation director Scott Mathieson (pictured) said: “Scotland is currently hosting one of the most important climate summits in recent years.
“It has given us a stage to show all the work we have done already to move towards Net Zero and show our commitment to reaching our climate change targets at the pace and scale truly needed.
“Our electricity networks are at the heart of this climate ambition; they support the growth of renewables as well as the increase of electric heating and transport.
“It’s our job to ensure that we are constantly innovating and investing in our network to make sure it stands ready to support the energy transition.
“Active Network Management has proved to be an incredibly useful technology to use ahead of our planned multi-billion pound investment in our network to keep increasing the renewable generation Scotland needs.
“Not only that, but we are proud to be able to show that it can bring significant socio-economic benefits to both the country and directly to the communities it operates in.”
Regen author of the report Tim Crook said: “Our evaluation clearly shows that ANM is a valuable tool to allow distribution networks to accelerate the deployment of renewable generation in capacity constrained areas, and to unlock the associated carbon savings and economic benefits of these projects.
“The Dunbar ANM scheme has also made a significant contribution to the continued innovation and development of ANM technologies and processes.
“ANM based approaches, working alongside other sources of flexibility, could now play an important role to achieve net zero if networks are enabled to take a more proactive role to make strategic network investment.”
Smarter Grid Solutions ANM chief technology officer Euan Davidson said: “We were pleased to work with SP Energy networks and their customers in the Dunbar and Berwick areas to deploy our Active Network Management technology to solve the grid capacity challenges there.
“It is, therefore, very pleasing to see this evaluation of the many different benefits by Regen.
“Network flexibility in general, but this ANM approach to flexible generator connections in particular, provides the foundation for quicker and less expensive development of clean energy.
“Speed, scale, stakeholder inclusivity and cost-effectiveness are all clearly important in the context of the enormous climate challenge we all now face.
“This Dunbar ANM project, and the evidence of positive impact now captured in this report, point the way forward to massive scale clean energy development in accelerated timeframes with benefits to a wide set of stakeholders.
“We are also pleased to be working with SP Energy Networks to roll-out this approach to other network areas and also use the same underlying technology to solve other network challenges.”