Taco Engelaar, Managing Director at Neara
Affordable housing, brand new infrastructure, and nature on the doorstep. Labour’s ambition to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 and begin construction on three new towns before the next election offers a practical response to the current housing crisis. But there’s a significant roadblock in the way: the grid.
With every new home comes the fundamental need for a reliable energy connection. But the system they’ll depend on is already bursting at the seams. Ageing, weather-worn and overstretched, Britain’s grid is being tested by soaring demand and the growing impacts of climate change. It won’t neatly absorb new towns.
The government has acknowledged the scale of the challenge. Their pre-election proposal to “rewire Britain” outlined plans to modernise energy infrastructure. But while policy ideas are debated, housing projects are already moving forward, and the grid can’t afford to lag behind. For every new town we plan to create, we must simultaneously reinforce and future-proof the infrastructure required to serve it. And to do that effectively, visibility is everything.
Diagnosing in the dark
We know where the pressure points lie. Britain’s energy demand and consumption has surged ahead of its infrastructure. We’re expecting the grid to handle things at a scale it was never designed to do, while extreme weather continues to expose its physical vulnerabilities.
While we understand these strains, we have historically lacked a clear picture of where, when and how the grid is most at risk. Utilities have been navigating increased energy demand, dwindling capacity and grid ‘weak spots’ with limited insight – effectively diagnosing in the dark.
Creating a mirror image
What’s needed are tools that allow utilities to see and simulate the grid in its full complexity. A virtual physics twin could be the answer.
Physics twins are digitally-powered 3D simulations which map areas of the grid and its surrounding environment, and model how they behave and respond to the world around them. They hold up a mirror to the grid, informed by comprehensive, high-fidelity data. This visibility allows for smarter decisions: stress-testing assets, planning interventions, and responding to threats before they escalate – all in a safe, virtual environment.
Town ‘twins’ for smarter development
For planners and architects designing the next generation of towns, this technology could be transformational. With a comprehensive map of the surrounding energy infrastructure and an understanding of its constraints from day one, they can design energy-resilient developments and avoid costly delays to connection.
If 10,000 new homes are planned in an area, we know we’ll need capacity for 10,000 new grid connections. Using a physics twin, we can model this need in real-time. Based on data collected from across the existing network, we can simulate what will happen if we try to run a higher volume of energy through the grid. This will flag where there may be capacity constraints, as well as areas where there could be space for more energy to be transmitted.
Beyond capacity, these models also help us plan for environmental risks. As climate change worsens, extreme weather must be a central consideration in all future planning. By simulating events like flooding or wildfires, the model reveals which parts of the grid are likely to be affected, the damage which may be caused to different assets, and the likelihood of power outages. This foresight can facilitate preventative action. We can bolster weak points in the grid and tighten up response plans (like diverting power to local hospitals) when outages do occur.
We’ve seen this in action at Neara. In our work with a major UK utility to re-simulate Storm Arwen (which left 1 million people without power) we found that thousands of high-risk poles and vulnerable spans would fail if a similar storm hit again. Insights like these can transform how repairs are prioritised, making the network far more resilient. Applying this approach to new housing developments means identifying risks early and reinforcing infrastructure to protect communities from future outages.
These twins can also help to tackle one of the biggest hidden risks: vegetation. Trees and plants near power lines can be a serious threat. They can fall onto lines during storms, sag dangerously close in extreme heat, and even spark fires. With physics twins, planners get a bird’s-eye view of how much clearance is needed between vegetation and live power lines, balancing safety requirements with preserving green spaces.
As plans for new towns gather pace, we have a choice to make. We can continue building first and fixing infrastructure later, or we can bake energy resilience in from the beginning. We have to develop and reinforce the grid in tandem with new housing developments, not just as cities are planned and built, but also as they grow and spill out. By embracing tools like physics twins, we can ensure that every new town is designed with the future in mind.
