AN PROJECT by Electricity North West to cut carbon emissions has been awarded nearly £8m by the energy watchdog.

Quest is a scheme to find a green way of managing the peaks and troughs of power supply caused by surges in demand.

The company, which operates the electricity network across the North West, has been awarded £7.95 million by Ofgem to trial the scheme, as part of its efforts to encourage innovation in the industry.

The project works by automatically monitoring and intelligently managing the voltage levels of the electricity network during times of peak demand or low supply, without compromising those parts that are sensitive to fluctuations, such as some advanced manufacturing and other industrial customers.

Dan Randles, Head of Network Innovation at the firm, said: "The funding we've been awarded is crucial for allowing us to trial a highly innovative system to coordinate existing technology on our network."