The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently called for enhanced data transparency and anticipatory planning to address the growing issue of grid congestion. As the energy landscape evolves, and as more renewable projects seek to connect to the grid, congestion can hinder the progress.

Leveraging real-time, accurate data is becoming more crucial to inform decision-making and optimise the siting of renewable energy projects.

Advanced Infrastructure is at the forefront of this transformation, offering data solutions that provide the crucial insights needed to tackle grid congestion before it becomes a problem. But how exactly does data transparency work in practice, and how can our data solutions help developers navigate this challenge?

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The Hidden Bottleneck: Grid Congestion and the Need for Transparency

Grid congestion has become a growing issue as renewable energy generation scales up. With more projects attempting to connect to the grid, congestion is inevitable unless grid capacity is proactively managed. However, under the current system, developers often face uncertainty about where capacity exists or where congestion is likely to occur. Without clear visibility into grid conditions, developers are submitting applications for grid connections in areas that might already be at capacity, resulting in wasted time, resources, and missed opportunities.

This is where the IEA’s call for better data transparency becomes essential. By making grid data accessible and actionable, developers can identify locations with sufficient grid capacity and avoid the congestion hot spots. 

However, data inconsistencies across Distribution Network Operators (DNOs), coupled with variations in formatting and availability, complicate efforts to accurately model and evaluate grid capacity, hindering the efficient development of renewable energy projects.

This is where Advanced Infrastructure’s Electricity Substation Supply Area (ESSA) Data plays a pivotal role.

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ESSA Data: Overcoming Data Inconsistencies with Standaradised Data

Electricity Substation Supply Area Data (ESSA Data) developed by Advanced Infrastructure addresses these very inconsistencies, by providing a unified, standardised dataset that consolidates information from multiple DNOs. It offers a clear geographical map of substation supply areas and crucial metrics such as Demand Headroom and Generation Headroom, enabling developers to assess grid capacity in real time. By eliminating discrepancies in substation IDs, naming conventions, and data formats, ESSA Data ensures that developers have access to accurate, comparable information, critical to making timely and well-informed decisions about site selection.

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Electricity Substation Supply Area Data compiles and processes all critical datasets from Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) data portals, incorporating the most recent updates to ensure accuracy and relevance. This includes Substation Network Capacity and Headroom maps, Heatmaps, Distributed Future Energy Scenarios, Long-Term Development Statements, and substations geospatial datasets.

The IEA’s call for data transparency is not just an aspirational goal, it is a practical step for overcoming grid congestion. The technologies and data to support this vision are becoming more widely available, and it is increasingly being implemented in the form of data insights such as Electricity Substation Supply Area Data and net zero planning software such as LAEP+ (Local Area Energy Planner Plus), currently used by 50% of UK DNOs.

By leveraging Electricity Substation Supply Area Data, Renewable Energy Developers can identify optimal locations, significantly reducing the time spent on applications for unsuccessful sites, ultimately unblocking grid congestion.

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How is Electricity Substation Supply Area Data visualised?

At Advanced Infrastructure we build, source and clean data that can be combined with our cloud based net zero planning tool LAEP+ (Local Area Energy Planner Plus), or purchased as stand alone datasets available as an exportable GPKG and CSV file formats or API on request.

Ready to unblock grid connection applications? Request a sample of Electricity Substation Supply Area Data or book a demo to see how this powerful data can be applied in GIS software to help renewable energy developers make faster, smarter decisions.