National Gas has said innovation will be critical to addressing the central challenges of Britain's energy transition, namely, how to decarbonise the energy system while maintaining security of supply and affordability for consumers.  

The operator of Britain’s national gas network launched its new Innovation Strategy on a visit to Aylesbury Compressor Station, where the organisation's Head of Innovation, Katie Petherbridge, said the focus of its innovation programme is evolving in response to growing geopolitical uncertainty, changing patterns of energy demand, increasing reliance on a broader mix of energy sources and growing system complexity.  

National Gas has received nearly £24 million through the Network Innovation Allowance in its RIIO-GT3 settlement and has ambitious plans to secure additional investment through the £500 million Strategic Innovation Fund delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with Ofgem.

While recent innovation activity across the sector has largely focused on enabling decarbonisation and the development of low-carbon technologies, the new strategy places greater emphasis on strengthening energy security and emissions reduction.

The Strategy details five innovation themes:

1. Energy Security and network resilience - protecting the network and strengthening national resilience to ensure a reliable, secure and future-ready energy system.
2. Low carbon transition - accelerating the transition to net-zero through methane emission reductions, decarbonisation and the adoption of low-carbon technologies.
3. Safety and integrity - improving safety, productivity and operational performance through technical excellence, enabling efficient delivery across RIIO-3 and beyond.
4. Digital and data - transforming operations through digitalisation and data-driven decision-making, ensuring systems are future-ready and information is optimised.
5. Business and customer - building trust, improving service accessibility and enhancing experiences for customers, partners and communities.

Specific focus areas within the themes include exploring transitional technologies for electricity and gas whole-system integration, using technology to reduce emissions and introduce new, real-time gas quality measurement systems, and exploration of a biomethane hub model to unlock biomethane at scale as further opportunity to decarbonise the gas network.

National Gas Chief Commercial Officer, Ian Radley, said:

“Innovation is not only about developing new ideas; it is about understanding the problems that matter most and that’s why our priorities must evolve to meet today’s challenges. In recent years, innovation in the energy sector has rightly focused on the low carbon technologies needed to enable decarbonisation. However, the complexity of managing an energy system increasingly based on intermittent generation and vastly diversified sources of supply, in an increasingly volatile international landscape, means our attention needs to turn to how we maintain our energy security, while keeping bills as low as possible for customers and consumers.”

The Strategy identifies several key challenges specifically in relation to energy security and system resilience, including declining supply diversity and increasing import dependency, continued high and increasingly volatile peak demand and the increasingly significant role for gas as a dispatchable energy supply during periods of low renewable generation.

Delivered as part of the RIIO regulatory frameworks overseen by Ofgem, initial funding is made available to network operators early in the innovation process to identify and test projects which could offer significant value to consumers. Successful projects are then eligible for further funding to be delivered and implemented at scale.

Also speaking at the launch, Deputy Director for Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, Innovate UK, Jodie Giles, said:

“The scale of transformation required across our energy networks demands bold innovation and strong leadership. National Gas’s strategy aligns closely with the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund challenges we have adopted following the Energy Network Innovation Taskforce recommendations.  

“This strategic direction and alignment reflects long-term, whole-system thinking that will help unlock growth, strengthen resilience and deliver lasting benefits for consumers who pay for our energy system. The innovation we all deliver next, and how we pull through existing innovation, will create a modern energy system that underpins and enables everything we want to do in our future society.”

Katie Petherbridge, Head of Innovation at National Gas, also highlighted the vital role of industry and academic collaboration, adding: “We have co-developed this Strategy with partners across the energy system, industry and academia because we understand that no one organisation has all the answers. Only by working together can we identify the right opportunities and turn innovative thinking into practical outcomes. As we embark on this next phase of our journey, I want to encourage any of our partners with an innovative idea to get in touch with us.”

During RIIO-GT2, National Gas delivered over 200 projects, with a total investment of £65 million, funded by the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA) and the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).

You can read the National Gas Innovation Strategy here.