CLASS closedown and summary

Our £9 million CLASS project is now complete and has successfully demonstrated that capacity can be increased by controlling voltage on the electricity network – a solution that could be rolled out nationwide.

The aim of CLASS was to trial a range of innovative techniques to manage electricity consumption using dynamic voltage control – the key to unlocking the huge potential value of CLASS was to prove that the techniques are acceptable to customers.

Since the project went live in spring 2014 we have worked with the National Grid to carry out four sets of trials, using a range of equipment installed at our control room and in 60 substations serving 485,000 customers. Over 1300 customer surveys were conducted to show that CLASS has no adverse effects on customers’ electricity supply.

The findings from the trials and surveys have successfully proved that using CLASS techniques will make maximum use of the existing electricity network and does not affect customers’ perception of their electricity service.

Results from the trial show that if CLASS was rolled out across the whole of Great Britain the scale of the change in instantaneous electricity demand available would be greater than the output of an entire large coal-fired power station. This flexibility in electricity demand has the potential to radically change the way we keep the entire electricity system in balance, minute-by-minute.