UK Power Networks (UKPN) has been allocated funding of nearly ${pounds}$25m by the UK energy regulator, Ofgem, to trial innovative commercial and technical solutions to distribution networks management to meet the challenges emerging from the growth in low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and distributed generation. The Low Carbon London project [1] will focus on facilitating technologies to achieve carbon reduction targets, while exploring the role of distribution network operators to enable and share benefits throughout the low carbon supply chain. The project will trial new smart grid technologies and commercial arrangements with real London communities and businesses between 2011 and 2014. Through a series of coordinated trials, the project will demonstrate the impact on, and the role of, the distribution network in meeting low carbon objectives.