Hook Norton

The Hook Norton Low Carbon Community Smart Grid project (Smart Hooky) was funded through the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) Low Carbon Network Fund (LCN). This Fund supports projects sponsored by the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to try out new technology, operating and commercial arrangements. The aim of the projects is to help all DNOs understand how they can provide security of supply at value for money as Britain moves to a low carbon economy. One of the key aims of the Smart Hooky project was to identify and trial methods for monitoring the low voltage network to provide improved information detailing the energy consumption of the village. This was undertaken through a combination of monitoring at substations and energy consumption readings at domestic properties, via smart nodes. It also involved trialling Power Line Communications technology, designed to enable communication over the important ‘last mile’ between homes and their electricity substation. The equipment developed by AND Technology Research (AND) provides a two-way data path for energy information between the homes and the local energy distribution company (Western Power Distribution – WPD) by deploying a technology known as Power Line Communication (PLC). This means that the village’s existing mains power cables can be used as not only a power source but a communication network, limiting changes to the infrastructure which otherwise would be needed as electricity consumption rises.