Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution is working to deliver more capacity more quickly for new-build housing estates and low-carbon technologies such as home chargers.

SSEN Distribution and its partners are ready to trial a new ‘Community Smart Access’ option that will speed up electricity connections

SSEN Distribution and its partners are ready to trial a new ‘Community Smart Access’ option that will speed up electricity connections.

The option will use ‘Dynamic Load Averaging’, developed in conjunction with the Local Energy Markets Alliance (LEMA), in a move to manage electricity demand locally, while longer-term reinforcements to the electricity system are completed.

Community Smart Access is designed to enable SSEN Distribution to procure and pay for flexibility services that it knows it will need once a new housing estate is built, meaning construction can go ahead, even in areas where the grid is more congested.

The project will support deployment of technologies such as heat pumps, EV chargers, rooftop solar panels and battery storage in new homes – which are seeing growing uptake at a time when capacity on existing networks is at times constrained.

SSEN Distribution says smart solutions such as Community Smart Access will help to bridge the gap in the shorter term as it continues strategic development to provide much more capacity for the coming decades.

The service builds on – and aligns with – all the industry developments to date. This includes the development of Access Products and Flexibility Services, as detailed in SSEN’s Flexibility Roadmap.

Nigel Bessant, SSEN Distribution’s head of network operations, said: “The UK and Scottish governments both want to see more new homes built, while also decarbonising the grid. A massive part of getting to net zero involves moving away from gas boilers and cars powered by fossil fuels to low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps and EVs.

“Community Smart Access gives us a new option to accelerate the connection of new housing, with customers benefiting from low-carbon technologies like heat pumps, EV chargers, rooftop solar panels and battery storage.”

LEMA members Traxis Energy, ElectraLink and Gemserv are collaborating with SSEN Distribution to turn the Dynamic Load Averaging concept into an effective, efficient, scalable proposition. This will be trialled this year with plans to roll it out more widely if successful.

SSEN will be exploring this proposal further through its Stakeholder Engagement events in 2025 and is inviting housing developers to register at https://www.ssen.co.uk/about-ssen/stakeholder-engagement/.