Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has today published new research on the projected uptake of low carbon technologies (LCTs), which could enable targeted investment to support communities in realising their net zero ambitions.
The new research, commissioned from sustainable energy experts Regen, projects the anticipated uptake of LCTs such as electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps modelled down to 'output area'. This is a form of geographical zoning used by local authorities and represents an industry-first in terms of the level of granularity being provided by a network operator to its stakeholders.
The full breakdown of the research has now been made public to help national governments, local authorities and local stakeholders to plan the net zero transition.
The scenario-based research uncovers potential discrepancies between neighbourhoods and the net zero infrastructure to which they may have access. For example, two output areas in Reading which are just a few hundred metres apart could have 94 domestic off-street chargers in the first output area, compared to just 40 in the second. These neighbourhoods have very similar housing types and levels of off-street parking which means prior to publication of this research, the assumption would be that they would see comparable levels of charging provision.
SSEN is committed to ensuring that nobody is left behind in the net zero transition and the objective in sharing this research is to facilitate better awareness and planning. The detailed modelling published today gives SSEN and its stakeholders unprecedented insight into when and where discrepancies or constraints may emerge on the network, allowing them to be tackled before they impact customers.
Richard Hartshorn, EV Readiness Manager for SSEN said:
"The detailed data that we are publishing today represents keyhole surgery for future network management. Our projections of LCT uptake are broken down to a near street-by-street level of granularity, and on a year-by-year basis. They also split out the different types of LCTs, differentiating for example between car park charge points and domestic charging, which will allow the communities we serve to gain the clearest possible understanding of how to plan for decarbonised transport.
"Almost all the local authorities in our regions have set themselves net zero targets and many have well-developed thinking for how they plan to achieve their targets. We look forward to using this data to help inform them, and our plans for a net zero future."