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Ofgem yesterday announced that 23 projects can go through to the final stage of its three innovation competitions for the regulated network companies. This is the first year of the network innovation competitions (NICs), which make available up to £27 million of funding per year for onshore and offshore electricity transmission companies and up to £18 million for gas distribution and transmission companies.
The Low Carbon Networks (LCN) Fund is in its fourth year and is worth up to £64 million per year for electricity distribution companies (DNOs).
The gas and electricity NICs have seen submissions from the majority of energy network companies and the LCN Fund continues to attract interesting projects from DNOs. All 23 projects have shown that they are open to new ideas from across and outside the industry, with many using expertise from a range of partners to provide innovative ideas, services and technologies as well as contributing additional funding.
Hannah Nixon, Senior Partner, Smarter Grids said: “Innovation is integral to the future development of Britain’s energy networks. Ofgem is leading the way in preparing the network companies for the future through our three funding competitions. There is clearly an appetite for innovation, with all three competitions oversubscribed this year. It is great to see these companies work in partnership with others to produce a diverse range of projects that have great potential to deliver carbon, environmental and financial benefits for consumers.”
The three competitions follow the same timeline and network companies can now submit more detailed proposals in August to compete for a share of up to £109 million available. The proposals will be scrutinised by independent expert panels for each competition, which will provide their recommendations to Ofgem. At the end of 2013, Ofgem will make the final decision on the winning projects.
[mappress]
Press release, May 21, 2013