Project LEO
One of the most ambitious, wide-ranging, and innovative trials aimed to accelerate the UK’s transition to a zero carbon energy system.
This collaborative project conducted trials in Oxfordshire, aiming to build a broad range of reliable evidence of the technological, market, and social conditions needed for a greener, more flexible, and fair electricity system.
New market and flexibility models were tested – exploring new products and services to create new opportunities to benefit from the way energy is generated, stored, and used in homes, organisations, and communities. The capabilities of networks to manage smart, renewable, and storage technologies were advanced, learning what needed to happen to make electricity networks ready for a change to a local energy system. Local participation in the energy system was facilitated, ensuring that individuals, households, and organisations were part of the energy transition. Through Project LEO, it was demonstrated how a smart, local balanced energy system could bring social, economic, and environmental benefits for all.
- Tested new market and flexibility models – we explored new products and services to create new opportunities to benefit from the way we generate, store and use energy in our homes, organisations and communities.
- Advanced the capabilities of networks to manage smart, renewable and storage technologies – learning what needs to happen to our electricity networks to make them ready for a change to a local energy system.
- Facilitated local participation in the energy system – ensuring that individuals, households and organisations are part of the energy transition.
Our energy system changed. Increased local generation and storage, electrification of heating and transport systems, and the rise of flexibility services to balance the grid in real time required a smarter way of managing the energy system. It was more than just wires and switches; it was a social system developed by people for people. As the transition to zero carbon energy was made, the changes required were as much about people and the way they interacted with it as it was about technology. Communities and people needed to be at the heart of the new energy system. Ensuring that no one was left behind in the transition to a new energy system and that everyone could realise the benefits was essential.
Case studies
Oxford Bus Company Cowley Depot
How can batteries and energy storage operate in a flexible system? The batteries at Oxford Bus Company’s Cowley Depot were utilised in trials to better understand how energy storage can benefit, and operate within, a local flexibility market. Background The Oxford Bus Company (OBC) operates a fleet of 160 buses and coaches with the lowest…Oxfordshire County Library – a potential battery
This trial aims to learn if it’s possible to use buildings as batteries to provide flexibility to the electricity network. Background Project LEO is investigating how buildings can be used as batteries to provide flexibility in a low carbon future. LEO partners, Oxfordshire County Council and the University of Oxford, are working together to test…Sandford Hydro trials
How can we store electricity generated by the hydro? This trial is looking to see if we can use the river as energy storage and provide flexibility to the energy network. Background Sandford Hydro is a hydroelectric power plant on the River Thames near the village of Sandford, just south of Oxford. In 2016 Low…Rose Hill battery trials
How can a battery increase flexibility for a community? This trial aims to understand how a small battery can provide flexibility to the energy network. Background Rose Hill is a residential area on the Southern outskirts of Oxford. The road is part of a historic route from Oxford to London via Henley, running parallel to…Rose Hill Smart Fair Neighbourhood Project
The Rose Hill Trials formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These were six sets of local trials that explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair way for…Springfield Meadows Smart and Fair Neighbourhood
The Springfield Meadows trial formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These were six sets of local trials that explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair way for…Westmills Smart and Fair Neighbourhood
The Westmills trial formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These were six sets of local trials that explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair way for everyone.…Eynsham Smart Fair Neighbourhood Project
The Eynsham Trials formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These six sets of local trials explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair way for everyone. While the…Osney Supercharge Smart and Fair Neighbourhood
The Osney Supercharge trial formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These were six sets of local trials that explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair way for…Deddington and Duns Tew Smart and Fair Neighbourhood
The Deddington and Duns Tew trial formed part of Project LEO’s Smart Fair Neighbourhood (SFN) projects. These were six sets of local trials that explored how Smart Community Energy Scheme (SCES) business models can sit at the heart of a smart, low-carbon, locally balanced energy system, creating opportunities and benefits in an equitable and fair…
The ‘grid edge,’ where electricity was put to use in communities, homes, and businesses, was crucial because the way energy was used needed to change as much as the technology and financial systems. Collective actions were believed to have significant impacts, and encouraging local participation in the new energy system was essential to ensuring everyone felt the benefits. Flexibility services, meaning changing the generation or consumption pattern of an energy asset, at the grid edge were vital to meeting zero carbon targets and creating systemic change.
We’ve created a self-guided tour around Osney, Oxford to help illustrate what changes have to happen at the grid edge.
Reports
People’s Power Station 2.0: Developing a digital environment that creates value through Smart Community Energy Systems
This report documents the ongoing development of the People’s Power Station 2.0(PPS2.0), a highly innovative digital environment that acts as an enabler for bothcreating and capturing value through a focus on Smart Community EnergySystems (SCES). The approach taken is based on the premise that greater overall value can becreated and distributed equitably when individuals, local…Designing Smart and Fair Neighbourhood Trials Ethically
At its heart, Project LEO has been as much about social innovation and equity as technical learning, particularly in relation to our Smart and Fair Neighbourhoods (SFN). So it was vital that participants in these trials and the communities involved were managed and treated respectfully and ethically. This companion piece to our Learning from the…Project LEO Final Report: A digest of key learnings
March 2023 saw the end of Project LEO, one of the UK’s most ambitious, wide-ranging and innovative energy trials. Over the four years since its launch, this collaborative project has conducted multiple trials, issued numerous reports and gained vital insight into how a smart and flexible energy system of the future could look like. The…Learning from the Smart and Fair Neighbourhood Trials
“This paper reports on the learning we have actually achieved through the hyperlocal SFN trials, sets out the key messages from our learning and describes further work we would like to do to bring the concept to market through viable, valuable, ethical, repeatable and scalable business models. We are clear that much work remains to…Net Zero Rose Hill Local Roadmap Report
This report focuses just on the key question of developing a local roadmap for Rose Hill. It does not set out to provide an evaluation of the whole SFN. This report is split into several sections. Firstly, it sets out the approach taken through Project LEO to the design of a net zero roadmap using…Low Carbon Hub Portfolio and Routes to Market
This paper sets out how the Low Carbon Hub will build on technical assessments already done for its portfolio of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to learn about how the portfolio of projects can act as a single ‘Community of MPANs’ in delivering energy allocation and flexibility services. Low Carbon Hub will also learn about what…Whitepaper: Vision on the inclusion of small (under 7kW) flexibility from the grid edge and its role in Future Energy System
As the UK focuses more on achieving its Net Zero targets, electrification of local and national infrastructures will bring many challenges and opportunities in all aspects of the energy system – societal, commercial, technical, and regulatory. The Future Energy Scenarios published by the Electricity System Operator (ESO) in 2021 (FES 2021) outlines three possible future…Community of MPANs
This report introduces the concept of the ‘Community of MPANs’ a way for communities to work collectively at the ‘grid edge – where we use electricity in our homes and businesses – in order to aid the transition to a net zero energy system. The Grid Edge will become the epicentre of the energy system in the future…Year one plug-in projects review
During year 1 of Project LEO, the Low Carbon Hub has worked with its 43 existing projects and 17 new projects to form a pipeline of ‘Plug-in Projects’ (PiP) for Project LEO. This pipeline would: This document is a review of the first year of the plug-in projects. Click on the download to access the…Developing an ethical framework for local energy approaches
This document is a staging post in a three-year process to develop and test a framework to support the ethical delivery of local energy trials and the design of equitable local energy offerings. The ethical framework will provide a set of tools and processes that can be used alongside others being developed as part of…
The team:
Project LEO was a collaboration between:
- Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks
- Low Carbon Hub
- University of Oxford
- Oxford Brookes University
- Piclo
- Oxfordshire County Council
- Nuvve
- Oxford City Council
- Origami
It is funded by:
- Industrial Strategy

