RP7 Stakeholder Consultation WEB - Flipbook - Page 28
Our RP7 Innovation Strategy
In our RP7 Business Plan, we will
be including the learnings from our
RP6 network innovation projects to
deliver savings to our customers in
RP7 and beyond. However, looking
beyond 2031, when even more network
capacity will be required to facilitate the
connection of LCTs, we must seek out
opportunities to deliver cost savings for
our customers. We believe this begins
with innovation and we believe the time
is now.
We agree with the DfE’s 10X8 Economy
vision that “as a small advanced
economy we need to focus on the parts
of our economy where we already are or
can be global leaders. Success in these
areas will bring momentum that can
spread to all parts of our economy and
We will innovate
more than in RP6.
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create opportunities for people across
our society”.
Northern Ireland has some of the
highest levels of distributed renewable
generation in the world and being part
of a small synchronous system, we face
challenges now which the rest of the
world will face in coming decades. On
this basis we are perfectly placed to be
leaders in innovation in the integration
of renewable generation onto the
network.
Our stakeholders have told us that we
should continue to innovate and that
considering the unique circumstances
of the Northern Ireland network, we
should broaden our innovation remit
to be more than ‘fast followers’ and to
take a more “whole system’ approach.
This aligns with the 10X vision and will
We will continue
to deploy proven
innovation from
other jurisdictions as
business as usual
activity in Northern
Ireland.
include working with the Transmission
System Operator (TSO), other utilities,
the heat and transport sectors,
local councils, academia and wider
stakeholders including community
energy schemes.
This level of change cannot be
delivered alone. We need a collective,
collaborative approach across
government and industry. We need
politicians and communities to buy in
to the bold and highly ambitious vision.
We need support from leading industry
figures and entrepreneurs to deliver the
step change our economy needs.
As such we are proposing that our
RP7 innovation strategy should be
underpinned by the following principles:
We will trial innovation
projects with lower
Technology Readiness
Levels (TRLs),
leveraging the specific
circumstances of
the Northern Ireland
network.
https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/economy/10x-economy-ni-decade-innovation.pdf
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Northern Ireland Electricty Networks
We will adopt a whole
system approach to
innovation in RP7.
