Energy regulator Ofgem has given the green light for funding of £150,000 from the Strategic Innovation Fund to test the use of free or low-cost home batteries in households to cut energy bills and reduce pressure on the grid.
The Social Virtual Power Plant (Social VPP), led by LCP Delta and the Centre for Energy Equality on behalf of Northern Powergrid, will unlock access to energy flexibility for households and small businesses, enabling them to store electricity when it is cheap and use it to avoid using grid supplies at peak times.
The partners said the project aims to strengthen local energy resilience, cut outages and help avoid expensive network upgrades, ensuring the benefits of the energy transition are shared more fairly across the northeast region.
The project will assess the technical, social and financial feasibility of the proposed approach, which involves installing home batteries and enabling flexible energy use through smart software. LCP Delta and the Centre for Energy Equality will also identify the areas with the greatest need and how the Social VPP project can best support them.
The partners highlighted that the project included:
• Community led approach: delivered with community energy partners to ensure solutions reflect the needs and priorities of local people.
• Optimised energy management: using smart tools to identify areas where the grid is under pressure, highlight the communities most affected, and adjust the system in real time.
• Reinvesting profits in the project to ensure benefits are shared across the community.
For the local energy network, the project is expected to:
• Reduce strain on the local grid by managing energy demand more effectively
• Reduce the need for infrastructure upgrades and improve overall grid efficiency
• Enhance energy resilience by reducing outages and providing a more reliable service
Dan Hoare, Innovation Project Lead at Northern Powergrid, said: “As demand for electricity grows, flexibility will play an increasingly vital role in helping balance the grid. This project opens the door for customers and communities who otherwise face barriers to participate, creating new opportunities while helping us manage the network in a smarter, more sustainable way.”
John McHugh, Co-founder at Centre for Energy Equality: “At CEE, our mission is to ensure fair access to sustainable and affordable energy for every community. The Social Virtual Power Plant is about putting that principle into practice by prioritising households who are often excluded from the benefits of energy flexibility. By combining community leadership with smart energy management, we can reduce bills, strengthen local resilience and support a more efficient and reliable grid.”
The project comes soon after the government announced plans to offer low or zero interest loans to consumers to install ‘smart’ energy technologies such as solar PV, batteries and heat pumps, as part of its Warm Homes Plan.