National Grid UK Case Study: National Grid UK Deploys LineVision's DLR

DLR implemented on a congested line to enable additional renewable energy and provide £14.25M in savings

THE CHALLENGE

National Grid owns and operates the transmission network in England and Wales, with 7,200 kilometers (4,474 miles) of overhead line. Due to a lack of transmission capacity, a 600 MW offshore wind farm was being curtailed, preventing power from reaching the grid, and resulting in congestion costs to the operator and consumers. To meet the increasing demand for electricity and the goal of net zero by 2050, National Grid needed to grow its network and find ways to increase existing capacity on its grid.

LINEVISION SOLUTION

National Grid identified a congested 275 kV line that moves power from offshore wind to load centers. By installing LineVision's non-contact sensors, National Grid can use LineVision's LineAware and LineRate to optimize its operations. LineAware ensures lines are within safe operating limits with real-time alerting on threats to grid reliability or public safety. LineVision's DLR reliably and safely increases transmission capacity by utilizing best-in-class methodologies including computational fluid dynamics and field sensor validation. The result of this technique is hyper-accurate DLR with wind speeds calculated for each span of the monitored transmission line.

KEY BENEFITS

1 GW
Additional Capacity

£14.25M
Constraint Cost Savings

1 Million MT CO2
Avoided Annually

31%
Average Capacity Increase

*Once integrated into hourly operations

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APPLICATIONS USED

BENEFITS SUMMARY

Once DLR data is fully integrated into operations, National Grid will unlock 1 GW of additional capacity a year and increase the lines' capacity by 31%, allowing more renewable power to flow. The technology also reduces constraint payments, where the electricity system operator pays generators to stop producing power to avoid overloading the transmission system. Based on the capacity added, the UK would have been able to avoid £14.25M in constraint coasts in 2022. By integrating more offshore wind, this project will reduce over 1M metric tons of CO2 per year. Since the study, National Grid has added 9 additional sensors and is receiving operational DLR on 69 KM of lines.