go to top scroll for more

Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA_SPEN_0043
Title	Bethesda Home Hub
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Demographics) 70%; Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 30%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics) 10%; SOCIAL SCIENCES (Town and Country Planning) 5%; SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies) 15%; SOCIAL SCIENCES (Psychology) 50%; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 20%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour) 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given SP Energy Networks
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 October 2019
End Date	30 June 2022
Duration	ENA months
Total Grant Value	£120,250
Industrial Sectors	Power
Region	Scotland
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , SP Energy Networks (100.000%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , SP Energy Networks (0.000%)
Web Site	https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA_SPEN_0043
Objectives	Energy Local and partners are developing a domestic home hub to allow households to schedule appliances to run at the optimum times. A probability signal is sent out each 24 hours with 48 values to indicate how good or bad each half hour during the day is to use power. This is based on a forecast of the communitys demand, the forecast of local renewable generation and a Time of Use Tariff however other parameters could be taken into account. The household can schedule appliances according to when they need an appliance to be finished, how long it takes and whether it can be interrupted.The hub can be used to control plug sockets, electric vehicles chargers (including the amount of charge needed) and heat pumps and storage heaters. The plan is to improve the control of storage heaters to take into account thermal comfort and develop control of dehumidifiers.Control of storage heaters for those off gas, and reduced bills, will help those in fuel poverty. Community energy groups that use local generation to charge electric community transport via flexible arrangements will tackle transport poverty in rural areas. This adds value and builds on work funded by Redress to include the fuel poor within Energy Local.This facilitates local balancing at an LV level; it complements and feeds into SPENs work of how to operate as a DSO at 132kV to 11kV under the E-Port Energy project. The aim is to harness the ability of households to balance their energy locally as much as possible and to use incentives from the supply market that encourage the right customer behaviour to benefit the network. This is the first project to take this approach for local balancing. The key concept for this project is to change the peoples habits and maintain new habits. Under exceptional circumstances the technology could be used for an automatic turn down as well. Alongside this, De Montfort University is modelling the project to develop what if scenarios. It is developing the concept of parameters to give:Flexibility - a measure of peoples willingness to be flexible at different times of day and for different demographics Stayability - a measure of peoples ability to maintain new habits over time for different demographicsThese parameters then provide a method for tracking the success of any trial method to change peoples habits and maintain them. In addition, the communications in use will enable remote voltage measurements on LV feeders via the meters in real time.A novel commercial arrangement with customers will also be trialed through this project. Different frameworks will be developed to enable a DNO to provide an incentive via or in addition to their charging framework. It will be investigated as to whether this is possible via rewards for changing habits to balance locally measured capacity or peak use at particular times of day. The following work packages will deliver added value to the existing BEIS funded project Flexibility Through Communities developing demand side management at a local domestic level to integrate DNOs needs and develop new flexible solutions and flexible commercial arrangements. Work Package 1: 12 Months (Month 1 Month 12) 10,250Energy Local (and De Montford University)A study will be undertaken with De Montfort University to understand how the parameters for flexibility and stayability could be used for planning to compare the use of Demand Side Response (DSR) with conventional reinforcement. It will be explored as to how these parameters could be developed and integrated into planning processes and data, initially on a small scale. Following this the impact will be modelled over a larger area of network, and applied to the areas selected for Work Packages 2 and 3.Work Package 2: 12 months (Month 1 Month 12) 50,000Energy Local (and De Montford University)A small community area will be selected where there are a cluster of participants on one or two feeders to investigate the impact of demand side response on local balancing of local generation. This will then be extrapolated to understand the impact for local balancing and the 11kV network. Where possible, control will be installed to allow automatic scheduling of as much household demand as possible (e.g. control of EV charging, storage heaters, heat pumps and dehumidifiers).The following areas will be explored:Understand if there are mechanisms for local balancing to manage the network with fail safe systems to trip generation if it fails.Investigate whether remote voltage measurements can be used to improve network control or network planning. How could these measurements be received by SPEN (e.g. an API)Can the forecasts of demand for different demographics or generation (particularly hydro) be used to improve network planning.Note that Energy Local has permission to use household data with partners but it will be kept anonymous.Work Package 3: 15 months (Month 1 to Month 18) 55,000Energy Local (and ElectraLink; and TMA)Different frameworks will be developed to enable a DNO to provide an incentive via or in addition to their charging framework. It will be investigated as to whether this is possible via rewards for changing habits to balance locally measured capacity or peak use at particular times of day. Further investigations will include as to whether it is possible group users together (i.e. local generation or demand) to monitor the impact of their collective behaviour on the network or by new user types (e.g. domestic users with PV or EV chargers).Using Electralinks flow builder tool, new appropriate dataflows will be developed for a DNO to apply these rewards via their normal charging processes (via suppliers) with no or minimum change to the software. Working with TMA (a data collection agency) it will be checked that, once these dataflows are identified, they are easily used and implemented. It will be checked with the suppliers that household tariffs could reflect these rewards.A new means to encourage efficient behaviour and flexible solutions will be developed via a reward scheme along with potential new user groups. Working with ElectraLink and the data collector (TMA) it will be investigated as to how they can be practically implemented. Working with a supplier, it will be investigated as to how the rewards can be reflected effectively in bills, and their impact will be trialed on a small scale. Examples of user group categories are given below (the list is not exhaustive):Generation and demand at the same voltage area on the same network: Consumers consisting of generation and demand at the same voltage level that balance locally. A reward for balancing and avoiding times of peak demand could be via a differentiation in charges for locally balanced power to that drawn from elsewhere or via a time of use capacity charge (users could select their maximum capacity).Local balancing: A group type of user of consumers consisting of generation and demand between low voltage and 11kV are rewarded for balancing locally. A reward for balancing and avoiding times of peak demand could be via a differentiation in charges for locally balanced power to that drawn from elsewhere or via a time of use capacity charge (users could select their maximum capacity).Solar panels: A user type for a home with solar panels taking into account that they benefit from the availability of the network even when using power generated on site. This could be via a time of use capacity charge or reward (users could select their maximum capacity)Electric vehicle charger: A user type for those with a home EV charger or other significant loads that may be used over considerable lengths of time that incentivises charging at off-peak times.Capacity charge all domestic users: A time of use capacity charge or reward for all domestic users (users could select their maximum capacity).New data flow development / testingMapping of data flows and testing new data flows is pivotal to this stage of the project. ElectraLinks Data Transfer Service (DTS) is an established information interchange that uses a common set of industry requirements to facilitate business-critical processes, such as settlement, change of supplier and metering, which are implemented through a centralised communications service. The DTS enables the transfer of data between industry participants, including the parties involved in the project trials, who are familiar with existing data flow formats and interfaces.Under the project trials, ElectraLinks Flow Builder tool will provide a platform for prototyping proposed flows to meet new industry requirements where users can swiftly design new flows in real time to match upcoming changes and perform end to end testing to reduce the likelihood of process errors. Users can also collaborate easily and share these with the industry or with selected partners to enable swift creation and implementation of bi-lateral commercial flows. The new data flows will be designed within an innovation sandbox environment. Some system changes are likely to be needed to be made by TMA, the Data Collector albeit this would be the case with any approach to developing and testing new flows. The advantage of using ElectraLink and its Flow Builder tool, in a safe innovation sandbox environment, is that the project will be utilising an existing SPEN asset (the DTS) as the established information exchange; Flow Builder having been designed to integrate fluidly with the DTS.Work Package 4: 9 months (Month 18 to Month 27)Energy Local 5,000A period of monitoring customer behaviour to measure how they maintain the new habits developed. Capture learning. 1. Demonstrate the impact of DSR for local balancing and its ability to manage constraints ahead of safety critical active network management schemes at LV. Demonstrate how flexible solutions and business models benefit the network and deferment of reinforcement. Model of the impact at scale.2. Demonstration of how readings from meters at remote points of the network and forecasts of demand and generation can be used for network management or planning, and provide more accurate planning and lower cost connections.3. Development of new parameters to quantify the impact of DSR for planning purposes and how these can be used in network planning in future. This can defer reinforcement via flexible solutions.4. Test a practical framework (a penalty and reward scheme) to encourage efficient behaviour on the network and demonstration of how it can be implemented within dataflows. Evidence for the impact of reward and penalty scheme for Ofgem. This will encourage more efficient behaviour to reduce network reinforcement.5. Demonstration of how DSR and flexible solution can help tackle fuel poverty and transport poverty.6. Better interaction and understanding of the network by communities.
Abstract	This project is exploring a method to look to customers to shift their electricity usage to times of the day or night when demand on the network is traditionally lower. This involves changing peoples routines and habits until they feel they are getting all of the electricity they need, for minimal inconvenience, while also avoiding peak usage times when possible. This project will explore this specific problem and trial a novel commercial arrangement as part of a potential solution. This will run through the Ofgem initiative Innovation Link, set up to promote innovation through a regulatory sandbox environment.
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	14/12/22