UK, South Wales: National Grid Electricity Distribution, Net Zero Industry Wales and Celtic Freeport have launched an innovation programme to test ways of increasing access to existing electricity network capacity across the South Wales Industrial Cluster.
The organisations will sign a memorandum of understanding covering the multi-year programme, which will focus on helping industrial customers connect sooner while longer-term infrastructure is developed.
The first project will examine whether batteries controlled by the network operator can help balance supply and demand and create additional network capacity. If successful, the approach could enable industrial customers and renewable energy projects to connect earlier.
Roisin Quinn, President of National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: “Our role is to make sure customers can access the electricity they need to grow, decarbonise and invest with confidence.”
The programme follows the South Wales Industrial Dialogue, which brought together more than 30 industrial organisations with National Grid Electricity Distribution and Net Zero Industry Wales. More than 25 potential solutions were identified, focusing on earlier connections, greater flexibility and improved use of existing network capacity.
Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, said: “Electricity access is a bottleneck and accelerating access is critical in attracting (foreign) investment.”
The work supports two Energy Networks Innovation Taskforce priorities: accelerating industrial and business connections and decentralised system balancing.
Source: National Grid
