The funding from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) will move the projects into their next development stage.
Northern Powergrid serves eight million customers in the North East, Yorkshire, and northern Lincolnshire.
The ‘Artificial Forecasting’ project, developed with Faculty Science, Oak Tree Power, and ev.energy, aims to use artificial intelligence to improve load forecasting.
Steve Newall, Northern Powergrid’s innovation manager, said: “More accurate demand estimations will make flexible energy use more feasible, expand electrical capacity and reduce the cost of decarbonisation.
“We are moving to the ‘demonstrate and deploy’ stage of innovation for this project, so the abundant benefits it will bring are becoming more tangible every day.”
The GeoGrid project is testing a method to store renewable energy and convert it into heat.
This method, Geothermal Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES), stores surplus renewable electricity and uses it during high demand.
It aims to stabilise the electricity grid, reduce energy costs, and improve reliability.
Bart de Leeuw, Northern Powergrid’s head of innovation, said: “I’m confident that this SIF funding and the further development of these initiatives will ensure we use our energy more effectively and sustainably.”