Neighbourhood Green explored future domestic electricity demand and After Diversity Maximum Demand (ADMD) associated with low carbon heating technologies, such as heat pumps. The project aimed to provide insights into how these emerging loads will impact local electricity networks, supporting more accurate network planning and management to meet the needs of a Net Zero future.
What is the project about?
Neighbourhood Green explored the impact of emerging low carbon technologies—such as electric heating and heat pumps—on electricity networks as the UK transitions toward Net Zero. The project grouped homes equipped with these technologies and monitored their energy usage across different time periods and weather conditions. By analysing this data, the project assessed future domestic energy patterns and After Diversity Maximum Demand (ADMD) during peak times.
These insights enable more accurate and efficient network planning, helping to reduce costs for customers and speed up connections for low carbon technologies. The findings will inform the development of industry standards and shape future network flexibility strategies.
Neighbourhood Green also supports UK Power Networks’ commitment to ‘touch the network once’—an approach that ensures network upgrades are made efficiently, with long-term needs in mind. This strategy minimises future disruption and investment, enabling a cost-effective and accelerated path to Net Zero.
How we’re doing it
The Neighbourhood Green project utilised the Whole Energy Systems Accelerator (WESA), a collaboration between the Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) and the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), to investigate the future impact of low carbon technologies (LCTs) on electricity networks. It virtually clustered homes from ESC’s Living Lab across the UK—equipped with electric heating and other LCTs—and monitored their energy usage over time and under various weather conditions.
The project focused on assessing After Diversity Maximum Demand (ADMD) under 1-in-20 year extreme weather scenarios, as well as evaluating the flexibility potential of these homes through detailed modelling and real-world trials. This work helps UK Power Networks better understand and plan for peak energy demands as low carbon technologies become more widespread.
Neighbourhood Green was structured around six key work packages:
ADMD Desktop Analysis: Evaluated existing data from homes with LCTs to determine peak demand profiles.
Trial Specification: Developed trial designs and selected participants and network topologies.
Living Lab Trial & Customer Engagement: Delivered real-world trials and gathered insights on energy usage and consumer responses to pricing.
UK Power Networks ADMD Study: Validated ADMD figures and assessed implications for network planning.
Insights and Next Steps: Summarised findings and proposed updates to industry standards on energy diversity and demand.
Enhanced Insights from Additional Dataset: Refined ADMD estimates using supplementary heat pump data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) Heat Pump Ready programme.
These findings contribute to UK Power Networks’ ability to plan more efficiently, reduce network reinforcement costs, and accelerate the integration of low carbon technologies—supporting a faster, more cost-effective transition to Net Zero.
What makes it innovative
The Neighbourhood Green project addressed key gaps in our understanding and management of low carbon technologies (LCTs) within electricity networks, providing evidence-based insights to support the transition to Net Zero. The project focused on three major challenges:
Lack of Industry Standards for Heat Diversity: Currently, there is no established industry standard for diversity factors related to heating loads, and the Energy Networks Association (ENA) has not provided formal guidance on this issue. Neighbourhood Green filled this gap by generating robust, real-world data to inform the development of diversity standards for low carbon heating technologies such as heat pumps.
Limited Understanding of LCT Clustering Effects: As the uptake of technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles increases, the impact of clustering—where multiple LCTs are installed within the same area—becomes more significant. The project provided valuable insights into how these technologies behave when grouped, and how their combined demand affects network performance.
Untapped Flexibility Potential of LCTs: The ability to manage and shift the energy use of LCTs in response to network needs is crucial for future flexibility strategies. Neighbourhood Green assessed the flexibility potential of clustered LCTs, helping to demonstrate how smart control and coordination of these technologies can optimise network efficiency and reduce the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.
Together, these insights will help shape future network planning, guide the development of industry standards, and enable smarter integration of low carbon technologies into the grid.
What we’re learning
The Neighbourhood Green project addressed key gaps in our understanding and management of low carbon technologies (LCTs) within electricity networks, providing evidence-based insights to support the transition to Net Zero. The project focused on three major challenges:
Lack of Industry Standards for Heat Diversity: Currently, there is no established industry standard for diversity factors related to heating loads, and the Energy Networks Association (ENA) has not provided formal guidance on this issue. Neighbourhood Green filled this gap by generating robust, real-world data to inform the development of diversity standards for low carbon heating technologies such as heat pumps.
Limited Understanding of LCT Clustering Effects: As the uptake of technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles increases, the impact of clustering—where multiple LCTs are installed within the same area—becomes more significant. The project provided valuable insights into how these technologies behave when grouped, and how their combined demand affects network performance.
Untapped Flexibility Potential of LCTs: The ability to manage and shift the energy use of LCTs in response to network needs is crucial for future flexibility strategies. Neighbourhood Green assessed the flexibility potential of clustered LCTs, helping to demonstrate how smart control and coordination of these technologies can optimise network efficiency and reduce the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.
Together, these insights will help shape future network planning, guide the development of industry standards, and enable smarter integration of low carbon technologies into the grid.
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