Utonomy secures £4.4million development funding from OFGEM

We are delighted to announce that Utonomy has been selected to receive £4.4million development funding from OFGEM as a part of the Strategic Innovation Fund, designed to support the rollout of innovative new technologies with the potential to transform UK energy systems.

Utonomy’s breakthrough technology has been designed to transform and significantly modernise global gas networks, automating gas pressure optimisation to reduce methane leakage, saving money and dramatically improving efficiency. 

The OFGEM project positions Utonomy to form part of a major modernisation project that aims to accelerate the transition to decarbonised energy at low cost to consumers and with dramatically improved efficiency, making Britain a global centre for energy innovation. In partnership with leading UK gas network operators, SGN, Cadent, Wales & West, NGN and National Gas, Utonomy will utilise network data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a platform capable of delivering an automated, low emissions and low maintenance gas network. 

Numerous important commercial milestones are expected to be achieved, with Utonomy rapidly developing new products to complement its innovative gas pressure management system, reducing methane leakage, increasing bio-methane feed-in and resolving network anomalies faster. The Company’s Intellectual Property portfolio will be enhanced with the addition of new, high margin recurring revenue software products, as well as innovative next generation hardware. 

Utonomy is achieving strong traction and this announcement follows a major multi year contract signed with key partner SGN. Having now engaged with all of the major gas network operators, Utonomy looks potentially very well placed to achieve widespread adoption in the UK, providing its technology to remotely and automatically adjust gas network pressure, minimising leakages.

Adam Kingdon, CEO of Utonomy, commented:

‘The gas grid of the future, which will be able to cope with the simple feed-in of green gases, needs increased automation and smarter networks using AI-based and machine learning digital tools. 

‘Therefore, it is fantastic to have received funding from the SIF for this project. The vision of the Intelligent Gas Grid is to autonomously and intelligently monitor and control networks, both in terms of pressure management and operational planning and maintenance, using data-driven algorithms and decision making, and to support network digitalisation. 

This will lower costs to consumers, and increase the resilience of the network, whilst also supporting the progress to net zero.’