North England electricity distribution company, Northern Powergrid, will develop a new energy market to allow customers to financially benefit from low-carbon energy technologies.
Solar, electric vehicles (EVs) and battery power will all be part of a three-year, £1.9million project, which the company are calling the Customer-Led Distribution System.
The project aims to set out a plan that will see customers financially benefit from the switch to renewable, low-carbon energy technologies.
Northern Powergrid provides electricity to 3.9million homes across the North East of England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.
Dr Patrick Erwin, policy and markets director at Northern Powergrid, said: “The transition to a reliable, cost-effective, low-carbon network offers huge opportunities for the economic prosperity of our region. We want to build this smart grid around the needs of our customers, delivering them the best service at the lowest possible cost.
“We want to support emerging energy markets where our customers can buy the services they need as cheaply as possible, and where they can sell services from solar panels, electric vehicles and home batteries that will help balance demand on the network and make it more efficient. Importantly, we also need to ensure the future system does not unfairly impact vulnerable customers.”
With many customers now switching to greener energy and away from the Big Six energy providers, Erwin believes that homes can become ‘mini-power stations’ through the energy they generate via solar, EVs and battery storage.
Dr Erwin added: “As the network operator responsible and accountable for maintaining a safe, stable and reliable network and delivering electricity to eight million people, we believe we are best placed to seize the opportunities of this energy transition for our customers and ensure we continue to deliver them the best services at the lowest possible cost.
“We don’t have all the answers and we want the flexibility to be able to seize new opportunities, so we are collaborating within the industry to share best practice and consulting widely with customers and experts to flesh out our plans to ensure we take the right decisions.”
