Learning Outcome 3
To what extent is the network flexible and what is the cost of this flexibility ?
Traditionally, meeting the demands placed on the network has been achieved by reinforcing the network. In this part of the project we explore smarter alternatives which allow conventional reinforcement and its costs to be avoided or deferred.
This will involve trialling the integration of primary and secondary Enhanced Automatic Voltage Control, Real Time Thermal Rating and Energy Storage Systems. These are commercially available technologies which have been deployed individually at higher voltages. New learning from this large-scale trial is the deployment of these technologies in combination, in conjunction with customer response and at lower voltage levels.
So as not to place customers at increased risks from the deployment of new network technologies, all trials will take place on networks that are fundamentally sound. For the purposes of the trials we will simulate network constraints by calibrating the network controls to artificially tight bands. The intent is therefore to have no observable impact on customers.
The trials associated will take place on two test networks within the Northern Powergrid distribution area. The first is likely to be located at Denwick in Northumberland, a 20kV network serving a sparse rural area with a load curve dominated by storage heating and a consumption peak after midnight. The second is likely to be located at Rise Carr in Teesside, a 6kV dense urban network with a classic mixed load curve and an early evening peak.
Read more about the
network technologies being trialled, and how the project will
explore customer and network flexibility