National Grid: Network Options Assessment (NOA)
The Network Options Assessment (NOA) is National Grid's recommendation for which electricity network reinforcement projects should receive investment. BID3 is used at the heart of the process to help assess the cost and benefits of the projects
The purpose of the Network Options Assessment (NOA) is to facilitate the development of an efficient, coordinated and economical system of electricity transmission consistent with the National Electricity Transmission System Security and Quality of Supply Standard and the development of efficient interconnection capacity.
BID3 is used at the heart of the NOA process to run simulations of the electricity market, alongside tools to look in detail at the electricity network. National Grid looks at the cost of constraints on the network and iterates between BID3 and their network model to accurately simulate these costs.
- For more information on the NOA and the use of BID3, take a look at the NOA methodology on the National Grid website
Academic validation
The BID3 model has also been validated by academics from a number of UK universities. This Expert Panel has looked both into comparing BID3 with previous models, alongside critiquing the underlying methodology and concluded the following:
In our opinion, the treatment of hydro power, foreign markets, weather-dependent renewables and generator constraints are generally better in BID3 than in ELSI1 and ELSI3, and thus we believe it will be capable of generating more accurate and representative results.
