Distribution future electricity scenarios

In response to the climate emergency, the UK has become the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by bringing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Here in the North West, we are supporting our stakeholders’ desires to go further and faster than the national target and deliver net zero by as early as 2038.

As we decarbonise we forecast that demand for electricity will double as customers adopt cleaner, greener forms of transport and heating. As well as an increase in demand, we expect to see more and more customers connecting their own generation to our network such as solar panels and wind turbines; all of this will have a dramatic effect on the existing electricity infrastructure.

Network operators like Electricity North West will play a key role in this transformation. It’s our responsibility to provide a smart and flexible electricity distribution system which will meet the evolving needs of customers and support the region’s economic development.

Our three draft strategy documents describe the progress we have made and set out the next steps we are taking on the transition to ‘distribution system operation’ (DSO).

We recently invited our customers and wider stakeholders to review and comment on these documents – our DSO strategy, Analysis of DSO functions and our Grid digitalisation & data strategy – to understand your expectations and gain your feedback on our approach. The consultation period is now closed. Thank you for your input.

We will publish findings from the consultation and our updated strategy documents in November 2020.

In the meantime, if you have any comments on the documents please contact us.

DSO strategy documents