The benefits of distributing electricity without wires will be explored in a new innovation project launched by National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) and Space Solar.
The Wireless Power Transmission project will examine if revolutionary ground-based wireless technology can supplement overhead lines and cables or even replace them – radically improving services for customers.
NGED is partnering with Space Solar to investigate the potential to increase network resilience and to provide fast and flexible grid connections.
The project will assess if wireless transmission can deliver benefits during emergency responses, such as storms, and help better serve customers in remote areas.
Going wireless could also play a role in moving energy from offshore renewables, making it easier and cheaper, as well as offering an alternative way to transmit power in National Landscapes.
With demand for electricity set to double in the UK by 2050, which will require four times the amount of renewable energy generating capacity, overhead lines and underground cables will continue to be needed, but innovation funding will help engineers explore how the distribution network can evolve.
Last October Ofgem and Innovate UK commissioned the new Energy Networks Innovation Taskforce to bring together senior leaders from industry and energy networks – including NGED President Cordi O’Hara – to take a more strategic collaborative approach to future network innovation, and to identify challenges for the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) to tackle.
As a result, the Wireless Power Transmission Project is being funded by the SIF, an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK.
Tim Polack, NGED’s Director of Strategy and Transformation, said:
“Innovative thinking is fundamental to supporting the transition to a cleaner energy future, and the Wireless Power Transmission project will explore how state-of-the-art technology could transform the electricity network to deliver resilience, cost and connection benefits to customers.”
Sam Adlen, Co-CEO of Space Solar, said:
“We are delighted to be able to work with National Grid to explore the opportunities for wireless power transmission. We have all seen the revolution that wireless technology enabled with communications. As energy demand accelerates, advances in wireless power transmission offer great potential to support our growing electricity infrastructure needs.”
Financially, wireless transmission could mean consumer savings due to reduced constraint payments, and lower system costs as connection times are shortened from years to months.
Customers could have quicker access to clean affordable energy by enabling faster integration of renewables and reducing curtailment.
Wireless beaming technology could speed-up renewable connections to the grid, reducing bottlenecks, constraint payments, and Active Network Management, which in turn could prevent energy bill rises.
Image courtesy of National Grid Electricity Distribution.
