Comment by Nathaniel Bottrell, Senior Advisor – Whole Systems & Networks

Wholesale gas prices are climbing. Fixed-rate energy deals are vanishing. Household bills are set to rise again by summer – and this time, the tremors trace back to the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s a stark reminder of something the energy sector has long known but is often underplayed: the UK’s exposure to global fossil fuel markets is not merely an economic inconvenience.

It is a structural vulnerability. And one the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned can trigger price shocks that are costlier than the investment needed to achieve Net Zero.

Reducing that exposure, while pragmatically managing the role gas will continue to play through the transition, remains one of the most complex challenges the sector faces. It is also what makes this moment so consequential.

There has rarely been a more urgent time to focus on energy innovation.

New network projects. One consistent thread

We now have four new projects underway as part of the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF):

• BioCapMap with Bohr to help Cadent realise their ambition to inject more green gas into the gas grid. We are helping to understand the current challenges green gas producers have when trying to connect to the grid and the challenges Cadent face dealing with enquiries from those producers. The project will set out ideas for what a solution should look like, with the ultimate aim of reducing emissions by increasing the amount of green gas used in the UK.
• Future Fleet with UK Power Networks is providing networks and logistics operators with scalable, affordable and grid-friendly smart energy management and viable business models to accelerate the decarbonisation of freight through electrification.
• Power Wheels with Northern Powergrid is unlocking vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) to help electric vehicle (EV) users save money, simplify charging and contribute flexible capacity to a smarter, fairer grid. By harnessing Motability’s growing EV fleet to create the UK’s largest virtual power plant, the project will enhance system resilience, reliability, affordability and decarbonisation.
• Pathways to 2050 with SSEN is creating a consumer-centric approach to planning and delivering low voltage (LV) network upgrades to cut costs, speed up EV and heat pump connections, and ensure every consumer can decarbonise fairly.

These sit alongside a huge back catalogue of 900+ projects from which we’ve already drawn crucial findings and lessons on energy system innovation.

On the surface, they’re very different projects. But working across all of them, and everything that came before, is what gives us the ability to spot the hidden threads. We’ve modelled scenarios, researched outcomes, tested solutions with real households and our network environment – and accelerated cleantech businesses from idea to market. That depth of experience is what we bring to every new project.

We’re not beholden to any single funder, sector or agenda. We’re here because the transition to clean, affordable energy needs an honest broker, and energy innovators need a real champion.

What this means if you’re working on innovation

If you work on innovation projects for a network operator, we’d welcome an early conversation.

We’ve built platforms, run real-world trials, and worked across electricity, gas, heat and transport. That breadth of whole system experience is what lets us see the connections others sometimes miss.

We’ll be sharing learnings from these projects as they develop in our Knowledge Base. In the meantime, subscribe to Thinking Networks – our monthly email where we share what we’re learning in the push for Net Zero. The uncomfortable truths, the expensive lessons, and what actually works.