Celsius

The first solution of its kind in Great Britain, the £5.5 million Celsius project trialled thermal monitoring at 520 substations across the North West, and installed a range of retrofit cooling technologies at 100 of the trial sites.

Usually the amount of power we transmit through a transformer is limited by its manufacturer’s rating which protects it from overheating. But the Celsius project has proved that by simply installing thermal monitoring, we are able to better understand the temperature of a transformer and release more capacity.

In addition we trialled a range of retrofit cooling technologies, such as improved ventilation, heat extraction fans and alternative kinds of backfill material for underground cables, which help to cool down equipment in substations, and release even more capacity.

Both techniques reduce long-term costs for customers, avoid early asset replacement and prepare our network for renewable energy.

If rolled out across our network, Celsius technologies could save customers £31 million over the next 30 years, and £399 million if rolled out across Britain.