National Grid has expanded its Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) technology across its electricity transmission network in England and Wales.
Under a new five-year contract, DLR will be deployed across an additional 585km of key north-to-south transmission routes, potentially saving consumers up to £50 million.
DLR continuously monitors overhead line conditions to calculate a real-time capacity rating based on actual conductor behaviour and local weather, rather than the fixed conservative assumptions that have historically governed line ratings.
The result is a reliable optimisation of available capacity on existing infrastructure, with the sensors and data analytics platforms allowing for a safe increase of the power carrying capacity of a circuit by an average of 8%.
This reduces the need for constraint payments, where a generator is paid to stop generating to avoid overloading the electricity network.
Installations will take place across three network boundaries with further planned over the 5 year period. This additional rollout means that 39 circuits, covering over 900km of National Grid’s transmission network, primarily key north to south power flow routes, will now have the technology installed.
Across the RIIO-T2 regulatory period (2021 to 2026), NGET’s DLR installations have saved £21 million in constraint costs and formed part of the deployment of grid enhancing technologies and upgrade of existing lines, which has added over 16GW of new transfer capacity to the network.
This work is being completed in partnership with three companies, LineVision, Ampacimon, and Heimdall, through a five-year contract. The majority of installations are expected to be complete by 2028.
Alice Delahunty, President of National Grid Electricity Transmission said
“By embracing innovation and using cutting-edge technology such as Dynamic Line Rating we are unlocking greater capacity on our existing network and enabling more renewable energy to flow to homes and businesses.
“Integrating grid-enhancing technologies such as these will deliver significant savings for consumers by reducing constraint costs and is an important part of our work to upgrade the grid to deliver a resilient, future-ready energy system.”
Vishal Kapadia, Chief Executive Officer at LineVision:
“National Grid and LineVision pioneered DLR in the UK and US. Our work together is already saving consumers millions per year by optimizing transmission capacity and we are excited to expand our ability to deliver the critical grid intelligence necessary to unlock additional savings for customers and growth opportunities for the UK economy.”
Nabil Khouya, Chief Product Officer at Ampacimon:
“We are proud to be selected by National Grid to expand the rollout of Dynamic Line Rating technology across its Network. By safely enabling greater integration of renewables and reducing congestion on the grid , our drone-installed sensors and associated software platform will play a key role in supporting National Grid’s vision for a reliable, affordable and decarbonised electricity system.”
Jørgen Festervoll, CEO of Heimdall Power said:
“Dynamic Line Rating is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to unlock capacity on the existing grid. We’re proud to support National Grid in scaling this technology, enabling more power to flow where it’s needed while reducing costs for consumers and accelerating the energy transition.”
Image courtesy of National Grid
