With grid connection applications quadrupling since 2018, coinciding with a growth in local area energy projects, Distribution Network Operators need innovative solutions that can save both time and money more than ever before.
OFGEM has also set out the need for network companies to work more closely with local authorities in the development of local area energy plans to ‘identify the best basket of solutions for a particular area’.
In the journey to a successful transition to Net Zero, Advanced Infrastructure's LAEP+ tool is now being used by Distribution Network Operators in the UK to support the upstreaming of constraints in the grid and predict future energy system changes, enabling further electrification of transport, heating, and power in collaboration with Local Authorities.
LAEP+ is a collaborative web-based mapping and design tool that helps Local Authorities, Distribution Network Operators and Consultants come together to plan and develop new energy systems such as power, heat and transport.
Web based and cloud based enables the data to be kept up to date, shared across different groups as well as it being visualised, over-layed and brought together in one place.
By bringing LAEP+ to the market, our aim is to support those responsible in transitioning to renewable energy faster, cost-effectively and collaboratively from project inception, design, delivery and final implementation.
"LAEP+ has enabled us to collaborate with many local authorities within the regions SSEN serves, to share network data and information from multiple sources alongside modelling best practice to build a clear picture of optimal pathways to reach net zero."
Project RESOP (Regional Energy System Optimisation Planning) aims to take a ‘whole system’ approach, by drawing together data from multiple sources into a single tool that can be used to plan retrofit and roll out of low carbon technologies (LCTs) like electric vehicle charge points.
In November 2021, following a public tender process, Advanced Infrastructure was appointed to provide an energy mapping tool for project LEO utilising Advanced Infrastructure’s LAEP+ software service. This provided an excellent opportunity to test and validate the value of geospatial solutions for local area energy planning.
In June 2021, Advanced Infrastructure and EB Charging were awarded funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles to specify and build a cloud-based siting tool for EV charge points. The output was EV Site, an EV focussed instance of our planning tool LAEP+. Advanced Infrastructure’s Head of Product, Lily Cairns Haylor, discusses the challenges of siting EV charge points at scale and the ways digital approaches might accelerate the tricky process.
