Launching our partnership scheme to design the largest smart city regeneration project in the UK

Today SSE Enterprise joined in the launch of the Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure project (PIRI).

Designed to create the largest smart city-wide energy system in the UK, the £2m scheme, which is being led by Peterborough Council, will cut energy bills and provide green heat, electricity and transport.

Here Neil Kirkby, SSE Enterprise, Managing Director discusses how the scheme will build on SSE’s whole system approach:

We see PIRI as a progressive project that will showcase the potential of smart urban energy systems and help drive local decarbonisation in a commercially viable manner.

It builds on the ‘whole system approach’ that our distributed energy business offers; where we look to integrate different energy elements into one investable solution and make savings for customers.

PIRI offers an opportunity to deliver an integrated, city-wide energy system, at scale, using innovative technology and infrastructure combinations, and we are proud to be investing in it. This investment is part of the SSE Group’s wider efforts to deliver solutions to help society on the road to net zero.

PIRI brings together a group of leading organisations that can help cities transition to net zero by merging energy infrastructure to maximise carbon savings. We believe that PIRI will achieve cost savings for all types of local organisations and help create jobs and training opportunities.

The PIRI project brings together a local electricity network, heat network, energy generation and local demands such as EV charge points, thereby unlocking efficiencies not deliverable under existing traditional and siloed energy systems. This is especially effective in built up areas where the electricity network is constrained and where local sources of heat are not being fully utilised.

As PIRI develops we’ll be able to show how city living and regeneration can be enhanced, and we expect this project to serve as a blueprint for other urban locations across the UK. We’re proud to work with leading partners including the council at Peterborough on this exciting project.