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A teenager is smiling again after vandals destroyed his only way of travelling to see his terminally ill father. Nineteen-year-old Aidan relied on his bike to visit his dad several miles away, as well as attending job interviews and exploring the countryside.

But when hooligans destroyed his only means of transport, he was left stranded – until money from National Grid’s community grant fund came to his rescue. The voucher, given to the youngster by Bristol-based cycling charity Life Cycle UK, helped Aidan buy the parts needed to fix his bike and ride safely at night.

Aidan said: “It paid for a really good set of lights and for me to be able to repair my bike. I would never have been able to afford any of it. I feel really lucky and I won’t have to walk everywhere now.”

The grants came out of two separate £10,000 donations from National Grid’s Hinkley Connection Project to the charity, which works to broaden access to cycling. The money is helping to increase access to cycling and provide educational bursaries for inmates at HMP Bristol and people on a low income. The most recent £10,000 grant has helped 21 people, including Aidan, with vouchers to help them mend existing or buy refurbished bikes.

A further 156 cyclists were given vouchers to buy essential safety equipment, 22 had their bikes fixed free of charge at one of several 'Dr Bike' events and 19 received a free £100 bike service at Lawrence Weston Bike Hub.

Bursaries for inmates

It’s all part of giving back to the community near the 57km high voltage Hinkley Connection between Bridgwater and Avonmouth in the South West, which will bring low-carbon, homegrown energy to six million homes and business across the UK. Earlier this year, National Grid awarded £10,000 to the charity to provide bursaries that will help inmates at HMP Bristol to complete their cycle mechanic qualifications and secure work following their release.

Since 2018, National Grid has awarded over £1.1 million in grants from the Fund to 75 different projects in areas impacted by the Hinkley Connection Project. Jonathan Richardson, Corporate Social Responsibility Officer for the Hinkley Connection Project, says: "Getting people into cycling gives them the freedom to travel in a cost-effective and healthy way, to work, to school, or even just to escape to the beautiful south-west countryside.

“We're delighted our funding has given hundreds of people like Aidan the equipment and servicing they need to get back on the road or riding for the first time.”

• For more information on how community groups close to the Hinkley Connection Project can apply for grant funding, please click here to visit our Community Grant webpage.

It might sound more like a fun day out, but a new concept being pioneered this year will have a far more serious intention. Grid Park’s main aim will be to connect low-carbon renewable energy in an innovative and cost-efficient way by scaling up the nation’s battery storage.

The innovative National Grid project will be trialled to connect customers, such as EDF Renewables UK, to the high-voltage network next year when it goes live in Bedfordshire. Its new design will connect three customers to the Grid at a new supergrid transformer – the first at a new 33kV substation on the site of the existing 400kV Sundon substation – to save time and money.

Battery partner moves in

The first partner to connect to the 500MW battery, connected to the Grid at the site just off the M1 near Toddington, will be EDF Renewables UK. The new Grid Park will connect low-carbon generation in an innovative and cost-efficient way, bringing benefits to local and national consumers.

Two additional Grid-scale batteries are also being lined up to connect to the Grid Park, bringing almost 150MW of connection capacity and energy storage flexibility to the network – equivalent to over 300,000 homes being powered for an hour. The model will also minimise the need for outages and have less impact on the local network in the area.

Longer term, the design also has the potential to help speed up renewable power connections to the transmission network as it’s rolled out across the country – boosting efforts to meet the country’s ambitious decarbonisation goals.

Mark Beasley, the project’s director at National Grid, says: “This is an exciting development. Making new connections to the transmission system is a complex process and our new grid park design is no different – we still have to manage the build and any planned outages, and ensure impact on regional networks and local communities alike is minimised. When our first Grid Park goes live it will play a key role helping us meet net zero targets in the future.”

The project is part of National Grid’s ongoing investment across its transmission network to increase the Grid’s capacity and make it easier to connect renewable power needed for Britain to reach net zero by 2050.

National Grid has invested £4.2 billion to upgrade, adapt and maintain the transmission network over the past five years, and is proposing a further £7.1 billion investment by 2027.

Sensors and data analytics platforms could become a common sight on pylons of the future as part of a high-tech solution that could power half a million homes. The equipment, which highlights and expands spare capacity on overhead power lines allowing for the integration of more renewable power, has proved a major success in the US.

Now LineVision’s Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) technology is being trialled here and could create 0.6GW of additional capacity and save £1.4 million in network operating costs per year. The innovative technology forms part of National Grid’s work to upgrade and adapt the electricity network to meet increased demand and help deliver a net zero Grid.

The monitoring sensors and dynamic line rating (DLR) platforms have been fitted on a 275kV circuit between Penwortham and Kirkby in Cumbria in a two-year trial to increase its power-carrying limit. Sensors will continuously monitor the overhead lines and apply advanced analytics to calculate the Dynamic Line Rating, which is determined by a power line’s physical and electrical properties, such as size, resistance, maximum safe operating temperature and weather.

Weather-friendly readings

In the past, overhead lines have been operated using a 'static' line rating calculated using conservative and static values for assumed weather conditions. The dynamic ratings will instead determine capacity limits by combining real-time conductor properties and forecasted weather conditions, meaning more informed grid operations and the ability to safely increase operational limits.

By increasing capacity and allowing more renewable power to flow, the technology could reduce electricity system operator payments to generators (to stop producing power to avoid overloading the transmission system) and create the £1.4 million bonus.

Lydia Ogilvie, Director of Network Strategy and Operations for National Grid, agrees: "To meet increasing demand for electricity and deliver net zero, our network needs to grow. At the same time, we’re continually looking at ways of expanding capacity on our existing infrastructure.

“I’m proud we’re leading the way in using transformational and innovative engineering and integrating vital Grid-enhancing technologies to decarbonise and deliver world-class reliability at lowest costs for consumers.”

Families struggling against a tide of rising energy bills and mounting debt will be thrown a lifeline thanks to a £50 million National Grid support fund. The scheme will target charities offering sustainable help to households in financial distress caused by rising energy costs for the next two winters.

Donations will be channelled to organisations providing emergency financial relief to homes with pre-payment energy meters, charities funding energy efficiency measures to lower bills and those that offer advisory services to people in need.

The money will help boost the numbers of staff giving advice over the phone as well as paying for fuel vouchers and improving individual homes’ energy efficiency.

The National Grid fund will see three tranches of £10 million go to:

• The Fuel Bank Foundation, which provides emergency financial support and advice to households in fuel crisis and at risk of living without heat, light and power.

• Citizens Advice, which delivers advice across a range of issues including managing energy bills.

• Affordable Warmth Solutions, which provides new, free home insulation and other energy efficiency measures to households who don’t qualify for government programmes.

• A further £1.5 million has been earmarked for National Energy Action to work with communities to ensure people can be warm at home and £1 million to the National Energy Foundation which delivers practical solutions to make homes warmer.

• That’s on top of the £2.5 million fund launched by National Grid Electricity Distribution to share as grants from organisations working to help people in fuel poverty across the Midlands, South West and Wales.

• The remaining £15 million will be distributed to organisations identified by National Grid as providing direct help and support to those needing it most.

The fund builds on financial support National Grid has already provided to charitable organisations over the course of the year.

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, adds: “Our frontline services are inundated with people struggling to afford their energy bills. In the face of this escalating crisis, it’s more important than ever that people can turn to us for advice on managing costs and keeping out the cold. This hugely welcome funding from National Grid will go towards helping us meet rising demand and supporting people through the difficult spell ahead.”

The Fuel Bank Foundation estimates it has helped more than 650,000 people, many of whom are struggling to enjoy the basics of a cooked meal or hot shower. Its Head, Matthew Cole, says: “That can have a serious impact on physical and mental health, and in the worst cases even lead to death. Fuel vouchers provide respite and breathing space to act on the practical advice.”

National Grid’s donation to the National Energy Foundation will directly benefit more than 18,000 households through emergency funding and ongoing support.