Reaching the UK’s ambitious offshore wind capacity targets requires a substantial increase in the build out of offshore infrastructure. Coordination and HVDC meshed networks have the potential to offer significant efficiency gains over a network using exclusively radial or point-to-point connections. Meshed networks, which connect multiple sources of generation to multiple sources of demand, require less infrastructure build out and, in some instances, can provide significant increases in cost-effectiveness and capacity potential.

Whilst the need for HVDC networks is clear, their development will entail a significant shift from the status quo and a very significant level of investment from the private sector into solutions that remain largely untested at scale in Europe.

Network-DC is a collaborative Strategic Innovation Fund project which focused on identifying the policy, regulatory, and commercial considerations that could impact the development of HVDC circuit breakers in the GB market.

The Carbon Trust brought together key stakeholders from across industry, regulators, government, and academia to develop insights into potential policy, regulatory and commercial barriers and opportunities. This report sets out a series of recommendations to bring DCCBs to market.