The two organisations will work together on a range of projects over the next six years, designed to look at how EVs, storage batteries and other new technologies can enhance the capability and resilience of the region’s power network.

Northern Powergrid’s head of trading and innovation, Jim Cardwell said the agreement “signals the start of a ground-breaking industry partnership”, which could “support the creation of smarter, greener energy networks”.

Patrick Erwin, policy and markets director at Northern Powergrid, added: “By bringing together our expertise we will help the region – as part of the Northern Powerhouse – play a leading role in exploring innovation and technological advances that could potentially benefit future generations, communities, businesses and industries both in and outside of the UK.”

While Nissan Motor’s (GB) EV manager, Ed Jones, said: “We’ve always known that Nissan’s EV technology can be used for so much more than just getting people from A-to-B and we’re delighted to be sharing our expertise to help create more sustainable energy networks in the UK. Through the integration of Nissan EVs, we can find new solutions that will help shape a society whose energy use is sustainable, efficient and affordable.”

Last year, Nissan partnered with Italian energy company Enel to develop 100 new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy storage units in London that bring together vehicles, roads and energy networks in “complete synchronicity”.

The V2G charging infrastructure is being developed by Enel – which Nissan has previously worked with during battery energy storage trials in France.

Jamie Hailstone

This article first appeared on edie’s sister title, Utility Week

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