U.K. Smart Grids Get £500 Million Jolt

GALWAY, IRELAND--August 7, 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Electricity grid operators in the U.K. have been told to modernise grids and reduce their carbon footprint as part of a £6.5 billion overhaul to occur between 2010 and 2015. Plans have been laid out by the country's energy-regulating body, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) (London), and will include a £500 million sweetener in the form of the Low-Carbon Networks Fund to support large-scale trials of advanced technology, including smart grids. The goal of the fund is to encourage the 14 distribution network operators (DNOs) to connect up to 10-gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon generation to their networks from local generation and other renewable sources, such as small windfarms, during the next five years.