GENSOCIAL
Electricity distributor Western Power Distribution (WPD) has announced a £20m investment in the electricity grid – to boost green growth and jobs across the West Midlands over the next two years.
The company, which looks after the electricity network in the Midlands, South Wales and the South West, has launched the initiative to support green technologies, as the UK attempts to recover from the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
WPD’s investment will include the upgrade and build of new electrical infrastructure and substations, enabling more green developments, such as electric vehicle chargers, mass heat pump installations and renewable generation – such as solar parks – to connect to the electricity network.
The company has already identified areas where there is interest in low carbon technology projects and where some network restrictions exist. However, it is now encouraging community groups, developers of low carbon infrastructure and local authorities to submit details of ‘ready to go’ green projects to help validate its proposals or highlight areas not currently identified for investment.
WPD’s operations director Graham Halladay said: “During the pandemic, our staff have been working hard to support customers at a challenging time, but also looking to the future. Innovation is at the forefront of our minds and decarbonising the country is essential to the lives of future generations.
“With this additional investment, backed by Ofgem and the Government, we can ramp-up the network requirements for not only renewables, but battery storage, electric vehicles, heat-pumps and all of the other technologies we will need in the future.”
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WPD will be holding a series of regional webinars to discuss the green investment in more detail, and feedback on the proposals is being accepted until March 19.
For more information – or to submit a bid – visit the Western Power website.
