Project Summary

CLIP is pioneering a community-led Net Zero planning approach for multiple clusters of communities. By using an innovative circular digital planning process, it addresses existing gaps in local area energy planning, enabling collaboration between communities, DNOs, and local authorities to develop unique and tailored decarbonisation plans for communities.  

CLIP includes a traffic light system, highlighting the alignment between community readiness and DNO asset planning, underpinned by credible and actionable plans. This forward-thinking approach empowers communities and optimises low carbon solutions to be deployed. It prioritises communities ready to go so networks can ensure capacity is available when needed. 

Innovation Justification

CLIP is a community-led planning approach that will unlock and optimise the transition to Net Zero for thousands of customers. This innovative approach addresses the gaps seen in LAEP and supports DNOs with asset planning. CLIP will empower communities in decision making, stimulating demand for low carbon solutions. 

CLIP, an integrated digital planning solution, is a collaborative tool utilised by communities, DNOs and local authorities. CLIP will identify and tailor the right decarbonisation solutions for communities, at the right time and place. This approach will stimulate consumer demand at scale and Beta will focus on over 100 communities, leading to savings in bills, carbon, and asset costs. CLIP’s tools, guidance and governance bring to life community-led plans across the UK-wide. 

This is accomplished through the creation of a planning capability and methodology capturing the unique needs of each community. It surpasses conventional planning, creating a community-specific opportunity pipeline integrated into a digital plan. What sets this apart is the active involvement of the community and consumers in a co-development journey, ensuring a fully endorsed decarbonisation plan. It feeds into the LAEP process and corresponding DNO and DSO planning process ensuring alignment. The DSO interface considers where flexibility should be planned and how much can be leveraged from the community solution. This reduces interventions required and optimises asset planning, permitting multiple connections. 

To contextualise, current LAEP practice takes a regional zoning approach but does not directly design solutions that are deployable at a community level and developed in collaboration with the community. Various technologies and commercial solutions will be considered down to building and street level including small-scale community solar schemes, smart local energy systems delivering flexibility in areas of constraint, tailored retrofit packages and local energy market structures for fair distribution of local energy. 

TRL/CRL is 6 with ‘subsystem’ components existing around DNO planning, community engagement and LAEP. Discovery will seek to understand how to increase this through Alpha and Beta to full commercial deployment. 

CLIP directly addresses the SIF challenge as it’s a whole system multi-vector planning approach aligning regional planning with customer choice and integrating DNO planning to deliver efficiencies in network asset deployment. This close alignment to the SIF challenge and need for a largescale demonstration makes the project suited for the SIF. Due to the high-risk and uncertain nature in developing and testing the tools, this cannot be funded as part of BAU. 

Impacts and Benefits

Financial - future reductions in the cost of operating the network 

The cost of operating the network will be significantly reduced by ensuring targeted deployment of assets when and where needed and using flexibility embedded into deployed solutions planned in from the outset.  NIA project CommuniHeat estimated a £1.5m saving for just 600 homes.  Our clustered approach will target over 100 communities likely saving many millions in reinforcement whilst introducing far more efficient consumer led solutions to reduce overall energy consumption. This will be validated through the network asset planning approach model. 

Financial - cost savings per annum on energy bills for consumers 

Previous project experience suggests an average 25% reduction in bills can be achieved with significantly higher savings for those homes limited to electric boilers without a community energy option.  The modelling built into the planning approach will consider the counterfactual scenarios and resulting efficiency and energy tariffs by household to evaluate the saving. 

Environmental - carbon reduction – direct CO2 savings per annum 

The average home uses between 2-3 tons CO2 per annum from fossil fuel heating.  For Beta we are targeting 100 communities, potentially saving over one million tons per year. However, we believe the planned approach will accelerate homes as they will not move without this support saving an additional carbon for every year we accelerate them. 

Revenues - improved access to revenues for users of network services 

The inclusion of, community generation, heat systems and flexibility provision into the project approach enables increased revenues by providers that benefit consumer and network.  The increased uptake will result in many £ millions generated for these schemes.  The scheme options can be identified and quantified into the integrated techno-economic evaluation model as part of the planning process. Revenue options equals investment opportunity so we expect to see many millions of private investments into network assets e.g. crowdfunding community solar. 

New to market – processes 

The process of community-led planning is novel and not done currently – the project will unlock stranded homes and communities, and provide a mechanism to co- plan with local authorities, communities and DNOs. The project team consists of representative stakeholders from all these areas to ensure success and a measured approach as it is deployed in practice.