News

Part 1 of the TNEI Innovation series Gordon McFadzean, Head of Data Science and Innovation Sharing innovation insights in Porto Colleagues from across TNEI recently attended the Wind & Solar Integration Workshop in Porto, where industry experts gathered to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with an increasingly renewable electricity system. During a dedicated session on the Black Start Demonstration from Offshore Wind (SIF BLADE), Gordon McFadzean, Specialist Consultant and Head of Data Science at TNEI, presented alongside project partners, sharing insights from the latest phase of the project and discussing the future role offshore wind could play in supporting electricity network restoration. What is the SIF BLADE project? As the UK’s electricity system evolves, the technologies and approaches used to maintain network resilience must evolve with it. The SIF BLADE project is exploring whether offshore wind farms could help restore electricity supplies following a widespread network outage. Traditionally, restoration

Celebrating a successful collaboration TNEI and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) have been named finalists in the 2026 Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Best of the Best Awards, earning a place in the prestigious Innovation & Technical Excellence category. The recognition celebrates a successful collaboration between TNEI and GCU that has helped advance power system analysis capabilities at a time when electricity networks face increasing complexity from renewable generation, electrification and changing patterns of demand. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project focused on answering a critical industry challenge: how to make power system studies faster while maintaining the high levels of accuracy required for modern network planning. Bringing together academic expertise and practical industry experience, the partnership developed an advanced power flow solver designed to improve computational performance while supporting more sophisticated network analysis. By enabling more effective modelling of uncertainty within electricity networks, the technology helps network operators and

From the UK to India, TNEI came together to support people living with cancer Colleagues from across TNEI have taken part in this year’s Macmillan Coffee Morning, bringing teams together across multiple locations to raise funds and awareness for people living with cancer. From the UK to India, employees gathered over coffee, cake and conversation as part of the annual initiative organised in support of Macmillan Cancer Support, one of the UK’s leading cancer charities. The event reflects TNEI’s commitment to creating a positive impact beyond the workplace. One of the company’s core values is to “care about the world around them”, and colleagues embraced the opportunity to support a cause that touches the lives of millions of people and families. Macmillan Cancer Support estimates that more than 3.5 million people are currently living with cancer in the UK, with someone receiving a diagnosis every 75 seconds. Through services including

The most significant update to the sector’s noise assessment framework in almost three decades The publication of the UK’s Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Turbine Noise guidance (ARWTN) marks the most significant update to the sector’s noise assessment framework in almost three decades. Replacing ETSU-R-97, which has guided wind farm noise assessments since the 1990s, ARWTN retains many of the core principles that developers, planners and acousticians are familiar with. However, beneath that continuity are several important refinements that could influence project design, cumulative assessments, planning strategy and operational risk. With the guidance now a material consideration for projects progressing through planning, understanding these changes early will help developers navigate the transition and avoid unnecessary delays or redesigns. Here are five of the most important changes to be aware of, with more details below: ARWTN applies now, including to many live projects Site-specific noise limits will require greater

Exploring the potential in local communities As electricity networks adapt to support the transition to low carbon technologies, finding cost-effective ways to manage growing demand is becoming increasingly important. Our analysis, presented at CIGRE Paris Session 2026, explored how coordinated flexibility within energy communities could help address these challenges while delivering benefits for both network operators and consumers. Introducing the Community DSO concept The Community Distribution System Operator (Community DSO) concept seeks to capture and coordinate flexibility within physically connected energy communities. Rather than focusing on large-scale network management alone, the concept operates at the lowest levels of the electricity network through local “cells” (see Figure 1), which can be based on individual secondary substations or even single feeders. Figure 1: Community DSO cells concept diagram Within each cell, a Community DSO coordinator manages local energy flows and coordinates flexible demand to help keep aggregate demand within network limits. This

An innovation initiative exploring how community renewable energy schemes could be better accommodated on the electricity network TNEI will join Regen next month to share progress from the Geoprint for Energy Club Connections and Operations (GECCO) project, an innovation initiative exploring how community renewable energy schemes could be better accommodated on the electricity network. As the energy transition accelerates, community energy organisations are seeking to play a greater role in delivering local renewable generation and supporting decarbonisation goals. However, network constraints can create significant challenges for projects looking to connect to the electricity system. Led by National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), the GECCO project brings together Regen, TNEI and Energy Local to investigate potential approaches to reducing these barriers and enabling more community energy projects to connect. As part of the project, TNEI is contributing technical expertise to assess the network implications of alternative connection approaches and explore opportunities to