Protection policy and small scale connections

We said we would review our protection policy, in particular, the protection scheme requirements compared to the size and cost of the connection solution,

"We would like NPg to review its protection policy with regards to all DG connections to ensure the obligations on new connectees remain proportionate and facilitate lowest-cost connection solutions, in light of the increasing need to actively manage the output of new generation"
Graham Pannell, RES 

A critical part of our commitment to on-going connections service improvements is Ofgem’s stakeholder consultation, whereby a range of customers are asked to provide feedback on ICE submissions of all DNOs. It was during this consultation that Graham Pannell of renewable energy company RES commented on the complexity of our protection schemes in relation to small-scale connections, raising a concern that the cost of compliance could make some schemes commercially unviable.

This feedback highlighted an opportunity for us to review our protection policy to see if we could ensure that our compliance fees remained proportionate with the size and cost of the proposed connection. We therefore made a commitment in our 2016/17 ICE work plan to review our protection policies, including our protection scheme requirements, against the size and cost of the connection solution and to advise our customers of any subsequent policy revisions.

When an application to connect generation to our network is received, it’s our responsibility to ensure that the local network can accept the electricity generated and continue to operate safely and securely within specified legal parameters. Following a detailed end-to-end review of the overarching protection policy that govern all of our connections applications, we published a revised Policy for the Protection of Distribution Networks on our website that is now less complex for our customers and also provides the vast majority of them with more cost-effective connection solutions. Our senior protection and technical services manager also presented the revised policy changes at our Connections Customer Forum in November 2016 and answered questions from the delegates who attended. 

• Northern Powergrid Policy for the Protection of Distribution Networks
• Update from our Connections Customer Forum in November 2016