A smart grid game changer?

OpenLV gets the funding green light from Ofgem

Western Power Distribution’s (WPD’s) Open LV project has been awarded £4.9 million funding from Ofgem.

The project will trial a new open and flexible solution that will be installed in Low Voltage (LV) substations, providing a much-needed enhanced data platform for local electricity grids.

This platform will enable the development of Apps to provide benefits to customers, community energy groups, Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and wider industry. The project will start in January 2017 and run until April 2020.

The OpenLV Solution will provide consumers with network demand information for their local network and offer them the ability to develop and deploy new Apps to meet their local energy needs.

OpenLV will be hosted by WPD and use data from their network, and delivered in partnership with EA Technology, a trusted third party innovation technology company. Nortech and Lucy Electric GridKey will provide monitoring equipment and power distribution equipment expertise for the project.

It is expected that the OpenLV project will deliver several benefits to a range of stakeholders. Examples of such benefits include reduced connection costs to customers, as the platform will allow the LV customer to connect new forms of generation or demand in a more flexible way. Benefits for the DNO may include direct cost reductions by using a standardised single platform rather than multiple overlaying solutions. Third party developers and platform providers may also benefit.

The OpenLV Solution will be deployed in 80 LV substations. These devices will show how the overall solution can release additional network capacity from existing LV network assets, how they can be used to enable the development of community or customer driven Apps, as well as enabling companies (including non-energy companies) to develop innovative Apps.