28. August 2025
The energy transition brings with it more variability in loads and an overall higher capacity requirement. In principle mesh grids help even out the effects of variability and through greater overall utilisation offer higher potential hosting capacity. However, they are very complex to simulate and therefore difficult to manage under higher loads. This limitation can be overcome through the implementation of Low Voltage monitoring devices at the nodes in the mesh.
A mesh grid is a layout of cables within a grid where there are many interconnections between the cables. This has the advantage of spreading the load more evenly across the grid in comparison to configurations with very few connections. This sounds perfect for the energy transition, doesn’t it? The energy transition beings with it a far greater degree of variability in load, especially on low voltage grids, and generally higher loads. So, isn’t it better to have a grid configuration where these loads will automatically spread more evenly? If you can be sure that all the cables and nodes within the mesh can take the load, then yes. But therein lies the difficulty. Working out how electricity will flow within a mesh grid is complex and therefore working out the impact of new connections and trying to model the grid is very difficult. This can however be solved through the introduction of monitoring. By placing monitoring devices at all the nodes in the mesh you can then see exactly how the energy is flowing.
So, are mesh networks a good or bad thing for the energy transition? We would say that a smart mesh network is a good thing as it will help increase utilisation and spread the load and effect of the increased variability. And we would also say that a ‘dumb’ mesh network is probably not a good thing as the risk of critical points turning up in the network in an unexpected manner increases dramatically as the energy transition progresses. Indeed, in Germany we see several mesh networks being ‘disassembled’ i.e. reducing the number of interconnections due to this issue. We believe it would be better to install monitoring and keep the benefits of the mesh while regaining oversight and control. Perhaps as the energy transition progresses, we’ll see more mesh networks evolve as DSOs need to connect parts of their networks with plenty of headroom with those parts with limited head room – this will only happen through the introduction of LV monitoring.
