Project Summary

Our electricity network faces significant challenges from climate change including flooding, overheating and frequent storm-force winds. Traditional grey engineered solutions (e.g. concrete flood defences or cooling systems) are effective but carbon-intensive and provide limited additional benefits. The Nature4Networks project explores Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as innovative, sustainable and resilient alternatives for use with GB energy networks. Nature4Networks will not only deliver network resilience and reliability and financial efficiencies that positively impact customer bills. It will also deliver wider ecosystem service benefits, including flood resilience, carbon removal, biodiversity enhancement, social benefits, and asset regulation, e.g., noise abatement and temperature control.

Innovation Justification

Presently, energy networks rely exclusively on engineered solutions to overcome challenges and problems (e.g. flooding, overheating, and visual impact). Nature4Networks seeks to explore the potential of using NbS as alternatives to engineered BAU approaches. NbS approaches have not yet been trialled for use with GB energy networks and therefore represent an ambitious, innovate alternative which could provide effective, sustainable, and resilient solutions to safeguard assets and enhance network reliability and performance, whilst delivering various co-benefits. 

Whist NbS is no longer an especially novel concept, with coastal protection, water treatment, and urban greening approaches widely deployed, the specific characteristics presented by electricity networks are unique and need to be accounted for and factored into planning and design of potential NbS options. For example, the linear nature of overhead lines, coupled with their elevation, and relative sensitivity to physical disturbances, requires any potential NbS approach to function in a way unlike its application in other sectors. Furthermore, strict safety standards and requirements associated with electricity networks presents additional considerations and potential limitations for NbS approaches. Addressing these considerations and challenges represents the key areas of innovation. 

In Discovery, the Nature4Networks Project scoped out a range of potential NbS approaches for use with specific network assets to overcome the challenges and problems they face -- these have been captured in the Nature4Networks Catalogue (referred to in Appendix_1). The NbS included represent a theoretical and conceptual appraisal of approaches which could be deployed to deliver specific benefits. 

In Alpha we will drill down into the specifics of on-the-ground practicalities, limitations and constraints, third party considerations, and detailed costings for implementation, maintenance and management. 

As such, in Alpha, it is proposed that we expand our investigations on initial Discovery use cases (UC1 and UC2) by adding UC3-Asset Screening, and UC4- Use of Thorny Planting. All four will be investigated more fully, to advance them towards readiness for deployment. By developing and enhancing the supporting evidence base for NbS use in conjunction with electricity network assets it's anticipated the TRL, IRL, and CRL will be advanced by the end of Alpha, in preparation for in situ testing in Beta. 

Stakeholder Engagement across SSEN-D in Discovery identified specific barriers and opportunities for the four NbS use cases. In Alpha we propose to address these by: 

·       Reviewing relevant safety and engineering standards and drafting NbS equivalents. 

·       Drafting installation, maintenance, and decommissioning guidance for NbS use with electricity networks. 

·       Reviewing the skills and supply chain requirements needed to deliver and maintain the NbS approaches described in proposed use cases. 

·       Reviewing what regulations, policies, and investment methods might be relevant to the proposed NbS use cases. 

·       Including NbS metrics in investment appraisal methodologies [CBA]. 

·       Evidencing NbS effectiveness for use in future price controls as verified intervention methods. 

SIF funding is sought as NbS approaches are not currently BAU solutions. Furthermore, the application and efficacy of the proposed NbS approaches in conjunction with network assets are untested, there are currently no mechanisms to value NbS as investment options, and there are currently no regulatory mechanisms to fund NbS as BAU solutions. 

There is substantial potential for NbS application for electricity networks. Considering primary substations alone (GB total = c. 4,800), if 10% were at risk of flooding which could be mitigated by NbS approaches, approximately 4,800,000 customers could benefit from NbS interventions. 

Nature4Networks aligns with Innovation Challenge 1. Incorporating NbS into DNO investment decisions supports faster, cheaper, and more resilient network transformation and an accelerated journey to net zero, in addition to unlocking value through engagement with other stakeholders and utilities (e.g. water networks), as well as wider social benefits and value.

Impacts and Benefits

Investigation into UC1-SuDS illustrated that the use of vegetated swales instead of BAU solutions like physical barriers to address flooding was particularly cost effective, in the order of £637k social Net Present Value (NPV). 

This represents ongoing reductions in network operating costs -- as an illustrative example, we estimated that this translates into approximately £1.53 m/yr social NPV across GB if it's applied to 10% of sites. Potential for scale will be investigated further in Alpha. 

Investigations into UC2-Linear Woodland to address Visual Amenity showed similar cost to the BAU alternative of undergrounding, but with more environmental and social benefits (identified below). 

In Alpha, we will carry investigations on additional two use cases: UC3-Asset Screening, and UC4-Use of Thorny Planting having been assessed to have potential to reduce costs associated with cooling, pest control and security maintenance, as well as continuing deeper analysis of UC1 and UC2. 

Such savings are expected to lead to consumer bill in the long run. 

The alternative to proposed NbS for most of the 14 possible use cases identified in Discovery is the use of traditional grey engineering solutions. As 'do nothing' was not an option for UC1_Linear Woodland, and UC2-SuDS, it was not included in the CBA scenarios for our Discovery investigations. 

Environmental Benefits

NbS inherently produce more environmental benefits than any grey BAU solutions. Our case studies illustrated environmental benefits in terms of: 

Carbon -- reduced direct emissions, increased sequestration and reduced indirect carbon embedded in traditional solutions like concrete or steel barriers; and 

Biodiversity -- increased biodiversity net gain. 

Particularly, the linear woodland CBA showed significant environmental benefits in the order of £216k (social NPV). Performing the same high-level illustrative example as the SuDS investigation (applying this to 10% of sites across GB), we estimate this translates into approximately £4m/yr across GB. 

Our SuDS investigation also had a significant benefit (£76k social NPV) from not utilising physical barriers with embedded carbon. 

Additional Alpha use cases have potential for carbon sequestration, habitat creation, erosion control and air filtration. 

Revenues and New Market Offerings

We have identified ways in which the external benefits (carbon, biodiversity etc.) may be monetised according to markets and schemes throughout GB, allowing the DNO to offset its costs and presenting greater value-for-money for consumers. We will continue to work on feasibility of engaging with these markets and schemes in Alpha. 

We also started to identify various external parties that may be willing to pay for, or jointly maintain, NbS (e.g., landowners that would also benefit from installed flood prevention measures such as SuDS) or other sources of funding available like grants for the development of woodland. We will engage further with such stakeholders and develop business models to facilitate engagement in Alpha. 

Alpha will explore development of new offerings that would enable multiple stakeholders to contribute to and benefit from NbS projects. 

Additional Benefits

There are several social benefits associated with NbS like health benefits and improved Visual Amenity. 

Visual Amenity is a significant cost area and one that is allowed for within the current RIIO-ED2 framework. We will investigate Visual Amenity further in Alpha by: 

1.     Investigated Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) for different solutions to visual dis[1]amenity; and 

2.     Considering an additional NbS case study involving visual screening of network infrastructure other than overhead lines. 

We have identified health benefits in the linear woodlands use case in terms of improved air quality -- we will carry out further research into benefits in Alpha on further second order dimensions such as reduced burden on health services.