20-21 July 2022

Open Innovation Event

Birmingham

In June 2022 we launched a call for stakeholders across the energy sector to submit project proposals addressing priority challenge areas,to join an Open Innovation Event in Birmingham July 2022. Following the call, we selected five project proposal teams to collaborate with subject matter experts from National Grid ESO (ESO) and other networks (ET, GT, WPD) to develop their ideas over two days at the event.

Find out about the 2022 Open Innovation Event

8-9 December 2020

Energy Networks Innovation Conference

Virtual Event

The flagship Network Innovation conference has been rebranded from LCNI to ENIC. This annual event is where all the GB electricity and gas networks present the latest findings from their R&D and innovation activities over the last year.

27-28 November 2019

Open Innovation Event

Birmingham

We want to partner with academic, industry and other innovators to develop projects that address our innovation priorities in electricity. Significant funding is available for successful applications.

Find out more

Soundbites Open Innovation event

30-31 October 2019

Low Carbon Networks Innovation Conference and Exhibition

Glasgow

Come and hear how we are contributing towards a secure, sustainable and affordable electricity system.

October 2018

Power Responsive Flexibility Forum

The Crystal, London

The SO Innovation team presented an overview of their process, as well as informing attendees of the upcoming refresh of the SO Innovation Strategy, the various sources of funding available, and how to get involved with innovative ideas.

Power Responsive Presentation

October 2018

Power Potential dissemination event

The Crystal, London

The Power Potential project is a joint initiative with National Grid ESO and UK Power Networks, which aims to create a new reactive power market for distributed energy resources and generate additional capacity on the network. Power Potential could save energy consumers over £400m by 2050 and generate up to an additional 4 GW in the south-east region of the UK. This is the first project in the world to trial this!

The project hosted its first industry dissemination event and it was a great success! The November event, which took place in London, highlighted the latest updates from the commercial and technical workstream of the innovation project, as well as other topical subjects within the energy industry.

SO Innovation Strategy Refresh for 2019/20

Webinar

During this webinar, we will provide an overview of our current SO Innovation Strategy, how we arrived at our innovation priorities for 2018/19, and why we are refreshing them for 2019/20. Your input and feedback is critical to ensure we are delivering the right outcomes from our innovation activities. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Innovation Strategy Refresh Webex Stream

Low Carbon Networks Innovation (LCNI) Conference

International Centre, St Quentin Gate, Telford

LCNI brings together experts from across the energy sector to showcase the latest electricity and gas network innovation projects and technology crucial in supporting the sector’s transition to a low carbon energy future. The Electricity System Operator will showcase its latest achievements and invite you to visit our stand to check them out and learn more about innovating with us.

http://www.lcniconference.org/

Energy Networks Association dissemination event

ENA offices, 4 More London Riverside, London

National Grid System Operator will present findings from some of its innovation projects at ENA’s dissemination event, focused on new technologies and commercial evolution.

Utility Week Live

National Exhibition Centre, North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham

Visit the SO Innovation team at Stand E49.Learn about our innovation priorities and find out how to collaborate with us. Also check out a virtual reality experience that brings to life concepts like energy system balancing, system inertia and reactive power.

https://www.utilityweeklive.co.uk

Open Innovation Day

Birmingham

Open Innovation Day gave industry and academia an opportunity to co-create innovation projects with experts within National Grid System Operator.

The Innovation team held a competitive open call, reviewed over 120 applications and selected the most promising innovation ideas to be worked up into projects. Eight groups from industry and academia were invited to Open Innovation Day, an intensive one-day project development event, and five of them were selected to further develop project ideas and ultimately apply for NIA funding.

SO Hackathon:Hack the Demand Curve
(Watch our video)

Reading

Hack the Demand Curve brought together 40 people from across the SO to work on three challenges facing different parts of the business:

1. How to better forecast the future energy implications of new technologies that have few real-world precedents.
2. How to reimagine our approach to balancing the grid in order to prepare for unknown future extremes.
3. How to explain challenging concepts and efficiently solicit feedback to enhance the System Operability Framework process.

Three innovation projects are being taken forward that each address one of the challenges outlined above.

Innovation Day: Open Data API

Winnersh

This Innovation Day explored how data sharing could improve transparency and be applied to yield consumer benefit.

Low Carbon Networks Innovation conference

Telford

LCNI brought together hundreds of industry experts to share their knowledge and experience as the industry prepares for a low-carbon future. National Grid SO launched a prototype Virtual Reality experience to test how well the technology brought technical concepts to life through interactive game-play. We also shared the midway project results two of our in-flight Network Innovation Competition (NIC) projects, namely the Enhanced Frequency Control Capability project and the Power Potential project.

http://www.lcniconference.org/