The projects were assessed against criteria including the potential to accelerate the development of a low carbon energy sector, the ability to provide value for money to customers and the capacity to deliver financial benefits to consumers.
The energy regulator was advised by an independent panel and the funding was provided by the Low Carbon Networks (LCN) Fund.
The winners of the funding are: Electricity North West, Scottish Power Distribution, Scottish Electric Power & EA Technology, Eastern Power Networks and Western Power Distribution (West Midlands).
Hannah Nixon, senior partner for distribution at Ofgem said: “The energy mix and technology is changing and the way networks operate has to change too – that’s why Ofgem set up the ground-breaking LCN Fund three years ago. By promoting investment in innovation now we can help avoid problems and expensive fixes in the future.
“The first projects are starting to provide valuable learning. This is being shared across the industry and more widely, which is one of the main objectives of the scheme. While it is still early days for the LCN Fund it is clear there is excellent progress being made.”