INNOVATION
Innovate with us
At National Gas, the Innovation Team works with both internal teams and trusted partners to develop, trial and scale new solutions that improve network performance, deliver value for customers, and support the transition to Net Zero.
We focus on turning ideas into practical outcomes, working closely with suppliers and stakeholders to make innovation happen.
Our Innovation Funding
There are two main funding mechanisms used to deliver innovation projects; the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA) and the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).
The NIA is a set allowance received as part of our price control allowed revenue. The NIA provides funding for smaller technical, commercial, or operational projects related to our network.
The SIF supports large-scale transformational research and development projects. Funding is provided for projects that can address the Innovation Challenges set by Ofgem.
SIF projects are split into three project phases:
Discovery: feasibility studies
Alpha: for experimental development
Beta: for building, operating and/or demonstrating
Our Innovation Process
Our Stakeholders
Understanding our current stakeholders and identifying future stakeholders and collaborators is vital to finding potential innovation opportunities for our business.
We attend events and regularly seek fresh opportunities by engaging directly with new companies across the energy system and other sectors.
We engage with all the UK Energy networks through innovation projects from whole energy solutions with electricity to focused gas challenges with the other gas distribution networks. Our strategic approach with the other networks allows us to collaborate on shared challenges.
