Project ICECREAM: Investigating coastal and estuarine climate risks on electricity asset management
This project aims to assess how different conditions and risks from coastal erosion, such as higher sea levels, coastal storms and increases in salt deposition is damaging assets such as transmission towers.
Project ICECREAM will identify assets at risk from sea level rise, coastal change and increased coastal storm activity. The project will install cameras and sensors to monitor erosion and corrosion risks, building our understanding on how to manage these climate change risks to our coastal assets.
The proof-of-concept monitoring sites will include the installation of saline pollution sensors, mini weather stations, water level gauges and image capture cameras to begin capturing data in 2025.
Project ICECREAM will:
- Provide a full understanding of sites and assets located in shoreline management areas
- Improve our understanding of the future impacts on our coastal assets
- Increase data availability to monitor asset health and identify risk moments with real time alerts
- Enable cost benefit analysis and mitigation measures to maintain network resilience
The outputs from this project will be used in RIIO T3 to identify sites at future risk and inform early consultation on what contingency measures will be most appropriate. The work is part of National Grid Electricity Transmission's climate change adaptation strategy of long-term adaptation planning.