Statement of Works
Who are we and what is our role?
National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is the electricity distribution company which distributes electricity to over 8 million customers across a 55,500 square kilometre service area, covering the Midlands, South Wales and the South West.
As your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) we are responsible for the safety and maintenance of the distribution system as well as facilitating new connections. NGED is committed to providing a safe and reliable electricity supply to all our customers and need to ensure that any new connection to the network will not affect our ability to fulfil these obligations.
Who is NGET and what is their role?
National Grid Electricity Transmission Owner (NGET) owns and maintains the national electricity transmission system (NETS) in England and Wales that enables the flow of electricity through to the regional distribution systems.
Who is NGESO?
On 1 April 2019 National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) became a legally separate business within the National Grid Group. The change was introduced to provide transparency in decision-making and to promote competition for the benefit of consumers.
The ESO leads the connections application and offer process. Statement of Works application are sent to the ESO and are progressed with the relevant Transmission Owner (TO), depending on where your connection is. Throughout the process NGED will engage with people across ESO and TO companies, but it is the ESO that sends the Statement of Works outcome to us.
What is Statement of Works?
Generators wishing to connect to NGED's distribution system may have an impact on the NETS. NGED is required (under the Connection and Use of System Code) to make a request for a Statement of Works (SoW) to NGESO in relation to the potential impact of generation connections on the NETS.
Due to the cumulative impact of connecting large volumes of new generation to the distribution system and the lengthy SoW process, a new trial SoW process is currently in place, known as the ‘Appendix G trial’. NGED has been instrumental in trailing this new process and the first DNO to have an Appendix G in place. The introduction of the Appendix G has reduced the time customers have to wait for the outcome of the process from around four months to six weeks.
The codification process of Appendix G trail into the CUSC is ongoing and is planned to be completed by summer 2022.