Indus 2.0 explored how industrial decarbonisation could shape the future energy system. By enabling data sharing between energy networks, the project aimed to create a more complete understanding of industrial energy use. These insights can help identify the most effective decarbonisation pathways for different industries and support better planning of the energy infrastructure needed to deliver Net Zero.
What is the project about?
Indus 2.0 tackled the challenge of industrial decarbonisation and its impact on future electricity and gas networks. The project addressed issues with uncertainty in load growth forecasts and investment decisions due to a limited understanding of when and how industrial sites might decarbonise.
The project aimed to improve forecasting by creating data-sharing agreements between Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs). This involved identifying where industrial customers connect to our networks, understanding their energy use, drafting data-sharing agreements, and setting up a data-sharing system. Using this shared data, the project determined a range of potential decarbonisation routes for industrial energy users. These routes have provided DNOs and GDNs with an understanding potential future energy usage on their networks including electricity, hydrogen, blended hydrogen and natural gas, and biomethane.
These insights will help network operators better support industrial customers in their decarbonisation efforts, ensuring they don’t become a barrier to achieving Net Zero. Understanding how customers might use behind-the-meter generation or energy storage will also be crucial in supporting industrial decarbonisation.
How we’re doing it
The project developed legal frameworks for data sharing and created practical decarbonisation pathways for different industrial sectors to improve future energy demand forecasting. This was delivered through a combination of research, stakeholder engagement, technical design, implementation and testing.
Key activities included:
Identifying industrial customers: Data from UK Power Networks and SGN was analysed to identify industrial customers within shared operating areas.
Establishing data-sharing agreements: A legal framework was developed between UK Power Networks, SGN and NESO to enable the secure exchange of data while maintaining appropriate protections.
Implementing data sharing: The project assessed several options for exchanging electricity and gas network data and selected an existing platform to facilitate data sharing, while also identifying potential approaches for future expansion.
Developing decarbonisation pathways: A range of decarbonisation scenarios were created for different industrial sectors and incorporated into network demand forecasting models.
Engaging stakeholders: Industrial energy users were consulted to validate decarbonisation assumptions and sector-specific pathways. The project also engaged with other DNOs and GDNs to understand requirements for wider adoption and scaling beyond the project.
Together, these activities provided a stronger evidence base for forecasting future industrial energy demand and planning the network investments needed to support industrial decarbonisation and the transition to Net Zero.
What makes it innovative
The earlier phases of the Strategic Innovation Fund project, Indus, focused on decarbonising clusters of industrial sites. The Alpha Phase of Indus introduced a commercial framework for creating Net Zero industrial hubs where nearby industrial sites collaborate. This coordinated approach optimises connection requests and energy infrastructure, reduces reinforcement needs, streamlines connection processes, and enhances cost-effectiveness for both industrial customers and end-users.
Indus 2.0 built on this foundation by focusing on collaborating across the energy system to bring together datasets to identify, locate, and categorise different industrial and commercial sites. This has helped networks understand the decarbonisation options for these smaller sites.
The innovative aspect of the project lies in its collaborative and data-driven approach, which aims to create a more efficient and cost-effective pathway to decarbonisation for industrial sites. By leveraging shared data and coordinated efforts, Indus 2.0 has looked to overcome the challenges of isolated planning and pave the way for scalable, sustainable industrial decarbonisation.
What we’re learning
Indus 2.0 uncovered valuable insights into industrial decarbonisation by accessing and sharing datasets. Through this work, the project developed methods to identify, locate, and categorise different industrial and commercial sites, and improved understanding of their decarbonisation options.
Through this research we found that:
Publicly available data does not capture the range of industrial sectors or the scale of emissions located within our licence area.
There are 65 industrial sites in the overlapping SGN-UKPN licence area. These sites represent 80% of the gas demand in the overlapping area (exclusive of power plants/sites which are solely used for power generation).
Up to 771 MW of additional electrical load is expected from industrial decarbonisation in shared SGN and UKPN licence area. This suggests that dispersed sites are still a meaningful source of load which may come online as a result of industrial decarbonisation.
Across the sectors assessed, technology choices vary significantly depending on the underlying process‑heat requirements and the wider assumptions embedded in the FES pathways.
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