Generation from plants connected to local distribution networks and invisible to the System Operator, National Grid, grew by 6% in the year to Q1 2017, according to ElectraLink.
The company said that much of the growth had come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar generators, which together provide nearly half of embedded generation.

In March 2017, the generation of embedded wind and solar was 33% higher than in March 2016.

National Grid expects that by 2030 50% of all electricity generation will be connected at the local distribution level. Dan Hopkinson, Head of Network and Energy Market Insights, commented: “A national picture of the generation market consisting of both generation connected to National Grid, and the ‘missing picture’ of distribution connected generation together provides market participants with a complete view of what is really going on.” ElectraLink says settlement data flowing across its Data Transfer Service provides visibilty of 95% of generation from embedded plant.