Data and Digitalisation

Indus 2.0

Project Data

Start date:

04/22/2025

End date:

05/31/2026

Budget:

£663,208

Summary

Indus 2.0 explores how industrial decarbonisation will influence the future energy system. The project focuses on enabling greater data sharing between electricity and gas networks to build a more complete, cross-vector view of industrial energy usage.

What is the project about?

Indus 2.0 addresses the challenge of industrial decarbonisation and its implications for future electricity and gas networks. A key barrier to effective planning is the uncertainty around when and how industrial sites will transition to low carbon energy sources, making it difficult for networks to forecast load growth and make informed investment decisions.

The project aims to improve this by establishing data-sharing agreements between Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs). This includes identifying the locations of industrial customers, understanding their current energy use, drafting legal agreements for data sharing, and building a system to enable secure exchange of information.

With access to shared, cross-vector data, Indus 2.0 will develop a range of possible decarbonisation pathways for industrial users—covering future energy usage across electricity, hydrogen, blended hydrogen and natural gas, and biomethane. These scenarios will help DNOs and GDNs plan more accurately and proactively for the infrastructure and services needed to support Net Zero.

The project also recognises the importance of understanding behind-the-meter solutions, such as on-site generation and energy storage, which could significantly influence future network demands. By addressing these factors, Indus 2.0 will equip network operators to better support industrial customers, reduce planning uncertainty, and ensure networks remain an enabler—not a barrier—to decarbonisation.

How we’re doing it

Indus 2.0 project will deliver legal, technical, and strategic tools to support the decarbonisation of industrial energy users and improve network forecasting. By combining data from electricity and gas networks, the project will create a more integrated view of industrial energy use and help develop practical, sector-specific decarbonisation strategies.

The project will be delivered through a combination of desktop research, stakeholder engagement, technical design, implementation, and testing. Key steps include:

Identify Industrial Customers:
Data will be gathered from UK Power Networks, SGN, and external sources to map out industrial customers operating within the shared geographic area.
Draft Data-Sharing Agreements:
Legal agreements will be developed between UK Power Networks, SGN, and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to ensure safe, compliant, and secure data sharing.
Develop Data-Sharing Infrastructure:
Systems will be designed and implemented to enable the secure exchange of electricity and gas network data across the three organisations.
Create Decarbonisation Routes:
A range of decarbonisation pathways will be modelled for different types of industrial users, considering technologies such as electrification, hydrogen, blended fuels, and biomethane. These routes will be integrated into future network demand forecasts.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Engagement with industrial energy users will help validate the assumptions behind decarbonisation routes. Collaboration with other DNOs and GDNs will ensure that the approach can be scaled and replicated beyond the project area.

Through these steps, Indus 2.0 will help network operators better anticipate and plan for the energy transition in the industrial sector, ensuring that infrastructure evolves in line with decarbonisation goals.

What makes it innovative

The earlier phases of the Strategic Innovation Fund project, Indus, focused on supporting the decarbonisation of industrial clusters. In particular, the Alpha Phase introduced a commercial framework for establishing Net Zero industrial hubs, where neighbouring industrial sites collaborate on their decarbonisation journeys. This coordinated model optimised connection requests, reduced the need for costly network reinforcement, streamlined the connection process, and improved cost-effectiveness for both industrial users and energy consumers.

Indus 2.0 builds on this foundation by expanding the scope to include smaller and more distributed industrial and commercial sites. It emphasises cross-vector collaboration between electricity and gas networks and uses shared datasets to identify, locate, and categorise these sites. This comprehensive data-driven approach enables network operators to better understand the decarbonisation options available for a wider range of industrial users.

The innovation at the heart of Indus 2.0 lies in its system-wide, collaborative strategy. By uniting datasets across the energy system and engaging multiple stakeholders, the project aims to shift from fragmented, site-by-site planning to an integrated, scalable model. This will support more efficient network development, unlock decarbonisation opportunities for diverse industrial users, and accelerate progress toward a sustainable, Net Zero future.

What we’re learning

Indus 2.0 aims to unlock valuable insights into industrial decarbonisation by accessing, sharing and integrating key datasets. The project will explore how to identify, locate and categorise different industrial and commercial sites, as well as understand the specific decarbonisation options available to them.

By building a clearer picture of industrial energy needs and pathways, Indus 2.0 will help optimise connection requests, reduce the need for costly infrastructure reinforcement, streamline connection processes and ultimately deliver more cost-effective outcomes for both industrial customers and end-users.

Through this work, we expect to uncover:

The types of industrial customer data available within Distribution Network Operators (DNOs), Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs), and other external sources.
Practical methods for sharing industrial customer data between DNOs and GDNs.
Techniques for mapping datasets across organisations to create more complete, unified views within each.
Data cleansing processes to ensure accurate, usable inputs for modelling decarbonisation pathways.
The impact of industrial decarbonisation scenarios on electricity network headroom across different pathways.
How integrating industrial decarbonisation data into network forecasting could shape future infrastructure investment decisions.

Reports & Documents

NIA Project Registration and PEA Document - 2025.04.22

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