01 Dec 2010 12:12:05
Ofgem awards funding to smart grid projects
Ofgem has awarded £62 million of funding to four projects designed to enhance the development of smart grids in the UK.
The money comes from a wider £500 million Low Carbon Networks Fund, with the bulk of the cash being split between CE Electric's Consumer-led Network Revolution and UK Power Networks' Low Carbon London, which received around £25 million each.
Establishing a smart grid was one of the key priorities laid out in the coalition's programme for government.
Based in the north-east, CE Electric's project will explore how changes to consumer behaviour and smart technologies, such as the smart metres rolled out by British Gas, will be able to lower the costs of low carbon technologies.
UK Power Network's Low Carbon London will work with a number of existing projects already in the field to better understand how consumers use energy, including how this usage can be influenced, and how best to deploy new technologies.
Further funding was granted to Western Power Distribution for its Low Voltage Network Templates project and Central Networks' Low Carbon Hub.
Ofgem highlighted that smart grids will be needed to meet the government's carbon reduction target of 20 percent by the year 2020.
