A New Approach for Community Energy Connections at National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is piloting a new approach to help community energy groups connect to the electricity network more easily and with lower costs, thereby supporting local energy use and the UK's net zero amibitions. The project will run between February 2026- April 2027.
Community energy groups are well placed to deliver local, low-carbon electricity, but improved connection options would allow more benefits to stay within the community.
NGED has launched GECCO (Geoprint for Energy Club Connections and Operations), an innovation project testing a new connection methodology, which identifies the best places on the network to link local generation and demand together.
This approach supports the creation of local "energy clubs," where demand customers are incentivised to use electricity where local generation is available. In doing so the local generator gets a higher price than they would by exporting to the grid and the customers get a lower electricity price, where savings can be between 10-30%. Overall, this balances the network and reduces overall losses on the grid.
GECCO is being delivered in partnership with TNEI, Regen, and Energy Local, and builds on Innovate UK's Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme.
By enabling smarter collective connections, GECCO could reduce grid connection costs for community energy projects, deliver bill savings for local customers, improve income stability for local generators and unlock flexibility and demand-side benefits for the electricity network.
NGED's region is home to several community energy groups, with strong growth expected as the government's Local Power Plan targets more than 1,000 community-owned projects by 2030. Hook Norton in Oxfordshire is currently trialling the GECCO approach to assess the methodology and cost benefits.
Findings from GECCO will help NGED assess how local supply model connections could be scaled more widely across customers, helping deliver a more flexible, local and low-carbon electricity system.
Rois Smith, Innovation Engineer for NGED, said about the initiative:
GECCO's ambitions align with national net zero goals and GB Energy's Local Power Plan, and what we learn will help inform our suite of early access connection projects.