The Low Carbon Network Fund (LCNF) is now inactive

About the Programme

We ran the Low Carbon Networks Fund (LCNF) under our Distribution Price Control Review 5 (DPCR5). This price control ran from April 2010 to March 2015, when it was replaced by the RIIO-ED1 price control (2015-2023).

The LCN Fund allowed up to £500m to support projects sponsored by the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to try out new technology, operating and commercial arrangements. The aim of the projects was to help all DNOs understand how they can provide security of supply at value for money as Britain moves to a low carbon economy.

There were two tiers of funding under the LCN Fund. The First Tier allowed DNOs to recover a proportion of expenditure incurred on small scale projects. Under the Second Tier of the LCN Fund, we ran an annual competition for an allocation of up to £64 million to support a small number of flagship projects.

The governance arrangements for the LCN Fund are set out in the LCN Fund Governance document.

The following companies were awarded funding for qualifying projects under the LCNF arrangements:

  • Electricity North West Limited
  • Northern Powergrid
  • SP Energy Networks
  • SSE
  • UK Power Networks
  • Western Power Distribution

You can read all documents published in relation to the LCNF in the list below.

 

Publications and updates