The Low Carbon Networks
Fund (LCNF)
The
Department of Energy and Climate Change, DECC, is working to develop the strategic, regulatory and policy frameworks to ensure “that the UK’s electricity networks efficiently deliver the secure and clean energy needed to meet our energy security and climate goals between now and 2020 and beyond.”
This includes the development of
smart grid capability in the UK, and to this end Ofgem established in 2010 the innovative LCNF. Worth £500 million over five years, it encourages electricity distribution network operator companies to engage with partners to carry out ground-breaking projects to help develop a
smart grid and assist in the creation of a low carbon economy.
Ofgem’s stated objective is that the fund will “kick-start the radical change that the electricity networks need to make the low-carbon energy sector a reality” through projects which “help all DNOs understand what they need to do to provide security of supply at value for money as Great Britain moves to a low carbon economy”.
LCNF projects are led by distribution network operator companies and will trial new technology, commercial and operating arrangements. The fund supports both small scale (1st tier) projects and much larger flagship (2nd tier) projects. This project, the Customer-Led Network Revolution, attracted a £27 million contribution, the largest award made by Ofgem in its first competition for 2nd tier projects.
For more information on the LCNF and the other three 2nd tier projects which won funding in 2010, read
Ofgem’s LCNF factsheet
.
More detailed information on the 2nd tier projects can be reached via
Ofgem’s 2nd tier webpage.
For more information on 1st tier projects, visit
Ofgem’s 1st tier webpage.
The
Energy Networks Association has established an LCNF portal with the aim of facilitating contact between vendors and distribution network operators preparing or undertaking LCNF funded projects.