Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | NIA_WPD_023 | |
| Title | FREEDOM - Flexible Residential Energy Efficiency Demand Optimisation and Management | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial) 50%; Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 25%; Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Oil and gas combustion) 25%; |
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| Research Types | Applied Research and Development 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Project Contact No email address given Western Power Distribution |
|
| Award Type | Network Innovation Allowance | |
| Funding Source | Ofgem | |
| Start Date | 01 October 2016 | |
| End Date | 01 January 2019 | |
| Duration | 27 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £5,182,380 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Power | |
| Region | South West | |
| Programme | Network Innovation Allowance | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Project Contact , Western Power Distribution (100.000%) |
| Web Site | http://www.smarternetworks.org/project/NIA_WPD_023 |
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| Objectives | The research objective is to better understand if hybrid heating systems are technically capable, affordable and attractive to customers as a way of heating homes. This project aims to investigate the feasibility of the use of heat pumps on both WPD’s & WWU’s network in order to: Demonstrate the ability of the hybrid heating system to switch between gas and electric load to provide fuel arbitrage and highly flexible demand response services; Demonstrate the consumer, network, carbon and energy system benefits of deployment of hybrid heating systems with an aggregated demand response control system; and Gain insights into the means of balancing the interests of the consumer, supplier, distribution and transmission network when seeking to derive value from the demand flexibility. To collect a body of evidence to support this forward-looking concept. The research will document the outputs of the pilot installations, the system interfaces and customer feedback that will enable us to continue to the next steps towards a commercial solution. The project will: Present a comprehensive review of the technology; Produce a case study of how the technology contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions and compares with previous energy bills for domestic consumers through increased heating system efficiencies and a reduced unit cost; Identify if the solution can bring benefits to WPD’s & WWU’s networks; Deploy trials subscribed to by up to 75 participants; Produce a proven architecture for the hybrid heating system; and Develop a business process (polices, standard techniques etc. ) for the use of hybrid heating system. | |
| Abstract | The Climate Change Act passed in 2008 committed the UK to reducing emissions by at least 80% in 2050 from 1990 levels, meeting this target would likely require heat related emissions of CO2 from buildings to be near zero by 2050, both targets pose an enormous economic and environmental challenge to energy providers. In the recent past, the expectation from the government and others has been that gas networks would be switched off within the next 20-30 years, to be replaced by electrified heat. However, it is becoming clear that the electrification of heat brings with it many challenges - both technical and economic. It is imperative that the energy sector support research and invest in energy solutions that are affordable, reliable and safe for our customers. In the UK, about 70% of all energy consumed is in the home, of which space heating and hot water production account for the bulk of the energy use. With the majority of the homes in the UK being heated by combustion of fossil fuels, a heat generating system that could improve domestic energy efficiency significantly has the potential to deliver dramatic reductions in primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Electricity is the most expensive fuel available in the UK, an energy savings trust report in 2013 found that rising costs for electricity hit poorer households with electric heating the hardest. Gas boilers typically emit 2-4 tons of carbon per year, depending on boiler and house type. Converting 10,000 homes to hybrid heating could save between 10,000 and 20,000 tonnes of carbon per year. The hybrid heating system has the potential to help meet the EU’s ambitious environmental targets of achieving a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990 levels and a 20% reduction in energy consumption by 2020. The technology, which combines domestic gas boiler and air-source heat pump heating, has the capability to use either fuel or both and can be used as fully flexible loads capable of providing significant energy system value. Using predictive control algorithms the technology manages the heating load and fuel type to achieve the best cost and carbon outcome based on real-time energy market prices without the consumer engaging in the market complexity. As well as not seeing an increase in their energy charges, the consumer wouldn’t have to pay for the hybrid system up-front. The use of aggregated load control helps reduce the peak demand, thereby having a disproportionate reduction on carbon intensity and system costs and increasing the security of supply. These technologies may also provide an opportunity to support network management and may be suited to provide system services because of the flexibility in their operation. In this project, we shall: Determine the technical potential and impacts for heat pumps to provide network services; Look at the technical and commercial barriers to implementation; Determine the potential benefit to asset owners and examine the possible commercial models for service provision; Examine the necessary next steps in the wider deployment of heat pumps. Deploying heat pumps on the WPD system may require processes to be developed with National Grid to identify where clustered uptake may result in issues on the distribution and the transmission network. National Grid predicts an uptake of approximately 1200 heat pumps in homes by 2020 with a peak demand of 1-4 GW in the UK. These devices can beused as a way of enabling flexible energy supplies to deal with demand on the local electricity network, improve domestic energy efficiency, reductions in primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The challenges of emerging technologies need to be understood to discover how cost effective, sustainable and practical they can be. PassivSystems Limited and its partners have put together a proposal to deliver a technically and commercially successful innovation project to realise the benefits of using the hybrid heating system (heat pump and gas boiler) for our networks and our customers. The success of the work will depend largely on the location, housing types and type of heat pump. The trial will be conducted in domestic housing units in the Bridgend area to demonstrate potential solutions to the findings of earlier research projects such as Bridgend Future Modelling. A variety of liaison meetings between PassivSystems and the Local Authority as well as other interested organisations, to gain the support and ensure the deployment satisfies the given criteria, has been undertaken. The methodology for the delivery of this Project will follow the process below: Selection of the area for the trial (customer engagement plan)Selection of the type and size of the heat pump Modelling Mobilisation (procurement of equipment and services)Trials or field test, including measurements (install equipment)Connection agreements and policy Analysis and close down (Analyse results, evaluate)Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above | |
| Publications | (none) |
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| Final Report | (none) |
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| Added to Database | 14/08/18 | |
