| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/N50855X/1 |
| Title: |
Optimising regional clusters of smart local energy systems |
| Principal Investigator: |
Strickland, Professor D |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Engineering and Applied Science |
| Organisation: |
Aston University |
| Scheme: |
Technology Programme |
| Starts: |
01 May 2015 |
Ends: |
30 April 2016 |
Value (£): |
29,540
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Sustainable Energy Networks |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
Transformation of the national electricity network is being explored through a series of projects funded by the Low Carbon
Networks Fund (LCNF). Simultaneously Innovate-UK and others are investing in a variety of projects to develop distributed
energy assets (generation, storage and demand management) at community and individual building level. Development of
a new overall control system architecture is the missing link which will allow the full economic value of both of these sets of
investment to be realised.
This project will investigate the feasibility of a technology solution designed to optimise a number of smart community
electricity networks across a locality. The technology is a control solution (supported by storage) designed to fit within a
novel distributed control architecture for energy networks. It applies networked ICT solutions at substation level and uses
intelligent predictive algorithms adapted from those used in telecommunications network management. The solution builds on existing work to develop community control algorithms for individual 'smart grids' (for example covering individual
business parks or housing developments) and aims to provide a robust and secure 'middleware' integration layer between
these local 'bottom-up' control systems and the existing distribution network operators and national control system. This is
estimated to release benefits to individual households of up to £300 per year.
The fundamental proposition of this project is that a technical solution is feasible which will enable the shift to this new
overall architecture. This solution takes the form of an integrated package of control and communications technologies
installed on electricity distribution networks (with appropriate management algorithms and almost certainly supported by
access to local storage)- largely at substation level but working in a co-ordinated way across a locality (sub-region or city)
and analogous to the way telecommunications networks are managed. Such a solution will enable more flexible trading and
regulatory arrangements between local smart grids and hence support the realisation of the full economic value of demandside
innovations.
The solution will provide a distributed control capability that optimises and manages multiple local smart grids, without
imposing additional costs on system users that exceed the benefits generated. Analogous to the technical infrastructure
that supports the internet, the solution will provide a resilient control infrastructure able to accommodate many and varied
types of local smart grid.
The key distinction between our proposed solution and centralised control systems is that individual sub-systems (i.e., local
smart grids and substations) will communicate with each other and optimise outcomes locally before having to engage
upwards with the national system. Our solution will develop the algorithms and define the supporting package of control,
protection and storage technologies to make this possible in a way which satisfies the needs of both the DNOs and national
system operator (and potentially replaces existing SCADA control systems).
Similar (but centralised) solutions currently exist for the electricity networks at national level but are prohibitively expensive
(an initial estimate is that it would cost £40k per substation simply to mimic national management algorithms locally).
This project will explore the technical feasibility of developing a packaged solution at substation level that costs less than
£5000 per substation to deliver at least the same functionality, but with considerably increased flexibility and resilience. The
primary advantage of effective distributed control and management in this context is that it will make it significantly easier to
innovate on the demand side, enabling local optimisation and more varied smart grid approaches to develop locally.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.aston.ac.uk |