The Local Energy Oxfordshire – Neighbourhoods (LEO-N) and VIVID (Vulnerability Identification Via Informative Data) projects have secured their share of more than £16 million of funding from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which is managed by Innovate UK in partnership with the regulator.
The LEO-N project is the follow-up to SSEN’s successful earlier pilot, which concluded earlier this year. The project is focused on helping families and businesses gain access to new ways to decarbonise their homes and workplaces. It aims to harness new tools to enable neighbourhoods and communities to trade and share energy, and will make the best use of available capacity.
A successful LEO-N project offers the prospect of many benefits to the distribution operator’s consumers, network customers and the planet. It can bring down energy bills and provide healthier, warmer homes, while offering the potential for lower network costs and fewer disruptive upgrades. Additionally, it will speed up the transition to a zero-carbon energy system.
SSEN’s Project VIVID has also been successful in securing innovation funding. VIVID will unlock the power of data gathered by smart meters and other public sources to identify which consumers would most benefit from timely, useful help.
Smart meters already help customers cut their consumption by telling them how much energy they are using. By using this data in a new, secure, and responsible way, SSEN will be able to see which customers could save more money, get financial help, or benefit from safety and resilience measures.
The use of other publicly-available data will also help SSEN fine-tune areas where services will be most beneficial, and develop new options for intervention; services which could range from financial support, energy efficiency measures, help with bills, safety advice, low carbon technology information and extra help during power cuts.
As an electricity network operator, SSEN is ideally placed to bring trusted partners into the project - including charities and local authorities that can provide local knowledge, help to shape the information and services on offer, as well as delivering support to residents and communities.
The VIVID project is being run in partnership with digital services firm CGI, social care charity Quarriers, Aberdeen City Council, E.On. UKPN and Smart DCC.
The LEO-N project is being run in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council, The University of Oxford, Oxford City Council, the Low Carbon Hub, Retrofit Works and Baringa.
These projects are funded by energy network users and consumers through the Strategic Innovation Fund, which is a programme from the UK’s independent energy regulator Ofgem and managed in partnership with Innovate UK. The purpose of the fund is to help achieve net zero quickly and at the lowest cost. This funding means the potential of these projects can be further explored and bring them closer to becoming a commercial reality.