The funding from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund will help SSEN Distribution develop new ideas to cut pollution, reduce roadworks, and deliver better network planning.

The CREOS-OUT project, in partnership with the University of Strathclyde and the James Hutton Institute, will look at ways to lessen the adverse impact of creosote on the environment.

Creosote has long been used as an effective preservative for the millions of wooden poles which carry overhead distribution networks the length and breadth of the country.

SSEN Distribution alone has over a million of these poles on its network, and replaces around 20,000 of them annually in a rolling programme.

The project team’s main aim is to develop a biological cleaning solution using certain microbes, which breaks down harmful chemicals found in creosote, in an eco-friendly, cost-effective way.

A viable creosote bio-detergent would reduce risks to the public and the environment, and provide an alternative to incineration, which is the current way many poles are disposed of at the end of their useful life.

Such a solution could avoid six million tonnes of wood waste every year, while also reducing the financial and environmental impacts of transporting these large quantities.

The Grounds for Change project, in partnership with Southampton City Council and the Energy Innovation Centre, will look to develop ways of laying new underground electricity lines in a less-intrusive, and more environmentally-friendly way.

As communities cut carbon from day-to-day activities, demand for electricity is going up. More heat pumps and EV chargers means networks need to be upgraded to meet customers’ needs. Cables for these new connections are often laid beneath roads, at times near other utilities’ infrastructure.

Grounds for Change will investigate solutions like precise slot cutting, directional drilling and on-site recycling of excavated material.

These could make cable-laying less disruptive for road users, pedestrians, and residents, and also reduce the environmental impact of this process. More discreet cable laying means less waste material is extracted, and this in turn means fewer trips to remove this waste from site.

The third project, called DIME, is aiming to address a gap that currently exists when making accurate assessments of how much electricity small and medium-sized enterprises use.

Smart meters give valuable information on electricity use, but as their roll-out is currently mainly focused on homes, fewer commercial premises have them.

The choices these smaller businesses make will be vital when it comes to the decarbonisation of their communities – but the current lack of visibility around how and when they use power presents planning expanded networks with a problem.

DIME uses smart modelling techniques to come up with an accurate, dynamic picture of these businesses’ patterns of electricity use. This means their needs can be factored into appropriate network planning, maximising efficiency and ensuring that investment delivers for customers.

The DIME project is in partnership with Frontier Economics, CGI and Southampton City Council.

These three projects have been successful at the Strategic Innovation Fund’s cycle ‘Discovery’ phase. Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

Frank Clifton, innovation manager at SSEN Distribution, said: “These innovations now green lit for further development are rooted in common sense, a commitment to delivering greater customer value, and care for our environment.

“We’ve devised these ideas based on what customers tell us they care about, and this Discovery funding means we can take them forward, and make them even better.

“Coming up with ways of doing things differently is only going to become more important as we increasingly deliver innovations in our day-to-day work, and I’m eager to see how these ideas now develop.

“Our project partners are always an integral part of these journeys, and it’s been great to have the chemistry department at the University of Strathclyde, and the Energy Innovation Centre involved for the first time, bringing expertise from other sectors and small innovators to the fore.”