National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) has announced it is adopting power flow technology to unlock 1.5GW of network capacity and free up room on the grid for new renewable deployment.

The project, which is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world to happen on such a scale, will involve modular SmartValveTM technology being installed at three of NGET’s substation sites in the North of England.

The equipment will help overcome grid constraint bottlenecks by intelligently routing power – this will allow the use of the existing network to be maximised and in doing so, support the UK’s net zero ambitions.

Approximately 500MW of new network capacity will be made available in each region – when combined, this is enough to power one million homes with renewable energy.