Funding for Northern Powergrid to help protect power supplies from extreme weather

The company, which delivers power to more than 3.9million homes and businesses across the North East, Yorkshire, and northern Lincolnshire, has received funding through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) – an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK.

Northern Powergrid will lead the MultiResilience project that was set-up to explore how electricity network operators can address the growing challenges posed by climate change.

By collaborating with industry partners, it will develop new methods to manage and mitigate for the impact of severe weather and other risks, ensuring communities remain connected and the power stays on.

The project will begin trials later this year.

Dr Bart de Leeuw, head of innovation at Northern Powergrid, said: “The MultiResilience project presents us with a unique opportunity to play a role in safeguarding the future of electricity distribution across the UK.

“The SIF award will enable us to develop solutions that protect our customers’ power supplies and minimise disruption, as climate change continues to create new challenges.

“Working closely with our partners, we’ll be focusing on finding co-ordinated and cost-effective ways to improve the grid resilience so that customers continue to receive a safe and reliable electricity supply, whatever the conditions.”

Guided by its principle of ‘innovation through need’, all the projects in Northern Powergrid’s portfolio focus on how to address real-world challenges and deliver real consumer and network benefits, whilst accelerating the transition towards net zero.