Geoprint for Energy Club Connections and Operations (GECCO) will explore a new type of flexible connection providing a fairer, smarter way for community energy groups to connect. It will develop and test a “Geoprint” approach to identify optimal points for linking local generation and demand collectively reducing connection costs and supporting community energy operations. The project aims to unlock long-term benefits for communities by enabling local balancing, lower bills, and creating a scalable, regulatorily viable connection framework for community-led energy models.

Benefits

This project aims to unlock the potential of community and local energy projects by creating a scalable, technically sound and regulatorily viable framework to enable the connection of Energy Local Clubs (ELC) or similar community models.

The core barriers preventing community energy and local energy projects from realising their full potential, identified by National Grid are: 

• Grid connection challenges: long delays, high costs, no preferential treatment despite their added value
• Financial uncertainty: lack of long-term financial mechanisms

Therefore, the two stated innovation questions are: 

1. Can NGED offer a new type of ‘flexible connection’ targeted at smart local energy systems/local energy markets with emphasis placed on accelerating community energy projects and supporting greater penetration of community energy?
2. Can we create an evidence base to support regulatory changes, including treatment of community energy groups and P441, which would formally validate local energy settlement via complex sites and enable the expansion of organisations like Energy Local? This would mean bill savings for demand customers and greater income for local generators, thereby helping the long-term business case for community energy projects.   

Geoprint refers to the radius of the energy club or local energy market. A ‘Geoprint’ connection will be a form of flexible connection specifically focussed on energy clubs and local energy markets. Promoting the uptake of this type of project will have the benefits of increasing local matching of generation and demand, leading to savings to customers and additional revenue for the generator. This can provide an uplift to the community energy movement of which the concept of matching local generation to demand is a foundational principle.

Additionally, for the network we expect that connecting community energy groups via energy clubs can promote more efficient network design and could offer substantial flexibility benefits.

As part of the project, we will also be evaluating NGED’s use of monitoring and how monitoring for community energy groups can better support the movement’s growth. Linked to this, through the design of the new connection type, we will test our current design modelling assumptions and make recommendations for improvement. 

Specific benefits include:

• A new way for community energy groups to get connected.
• Support communities and vulnerable customers by leading on a concept which has shown bill reductions for customers of up to 30%.
• Support an additional flexibility opportunity through the connection of local energy markets into the grid which could be worth up to £800,000 per annum by 2030 (NGED License Areas).
• Provide local value to generators and consumers worth up to £8.3 million per annum by 2030 (NGED License Areas).
• Review of modelling and planning assumptions on the HV network to unlock additional capacity.
• Understand treatment of losses in local energy markets/energy clubs.
• Framework for using LV monitors, setting up data infrastructure and how they can provide maximum benefit to the network and to community groups.
• Momentum to regulatory changes including P442, P441 and License Conditions which stop DNOs from treating community energy groups differently. These changes would enable continued expansion of community and local energy.