As energy grids evolve towards net zero, with increased penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and electrification of heating and transportation, challenges have been imposed on network operation, resilience and security of supply. In this context, a major theme of the UK's low-carbon energy transition is the increased need for flexibility across electricity networks to ensure resilience. As the flexibility of power systems constitutes an emerging area of interest in the power sector and in fact a powerful tool at the disposal of network operators, the creation of innovative technologies which will unlock and expand the flexibility potential of existing energy assets has attracted attention. The need for diversity in flexibility services as well as the options for offering these services have created opportunities for EVs participation in the flexibility markets.
Thus far, many projects have dealt with the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) paradigm. On that front, the 'VEhiCle TO eneRgy community' (VECTORS) project expands the flexibility potential of the bi-directional charging technologies by tackling the silo operation of V2X, complementing the solution with bespoke business models, carbon reduction impact and tailored market products. The project brings together proven technologies and existing energy infrastructure to accommodate the deployment of innovative V2X charging equipment, and consequently enables EV flexibility services provision for multiple concepts (i.e. V2Home, V2Community and aggregated V2Grid concepts).
The objectives of the consortium are to:
- Identify and characterise existing and upcoming EV charging technologies against current and future energy services, considering different configuration set-ups.
- Develop optimisation and control frameworks accounting for: i) wide-scale optimisation aggregated households and non-domestic energy assets, and ii) behind-the-meter optimisation and control of an individual household.
-Develop the business case and quantify the environmental and economic benefits of V2X services across individual and aggregated households.
-Develop user experience (UX) to enable market interface.
-Validate the technical capability of the proposed frameworks.
VECTORS is about tangible benefits to EV end-users and network operators:
-New flexibility players: EV charging technologies able to trade flexibility services.
-New revenue streams: Access to local and national energy market segments, in which new revenues streams are emerging steadily.
-New market products: Energy suppliers are able to shape energy products with a focus on V2X
-Prevent systems reinforcement: participation of EV-end-users in the flexibility market, minimising the need for additional capital expenditure to mitigate network stress
-Increase energy savings for residents by promoting self-consumption and reducing carbon impact
A major theme of the UK's low-carbon energy transition is the increased need for flexibility across electricity networks. Flexibility has been proven to be a 'powerful toolkit' for system operators across multiple levels and scales, providing enhanced capabilities to the operators, introducing a direct alternative to capital-intensive network reinforcements and bringing about UK-wide economic and environmental benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent shift in day-to-day life activities have revealed the vulnerability of the electricity sector, driven by falling demand, price reduction, sudden halt of investments and surplus of renewable generation, leading to new challenges in power networks. In this setting, the importance for additional actions has been rendered imperative, in order to address those issues and mitigate the COVID-19 effects, while maintaining minimum capital investments.
The '**I**dentifying & releasi**N**g **F**lexibility **IN** **Ι**ndus**T**rial d**E**mand' (INFINITE) Project will create innovative technologies enabling the facilitation of demand flexibility from the industrial sector. The technology put forward through this project will demonstrate the capability of the UK industrial sector to support demand flexibility. The proposed industrial Flexibility Exchange Service (iFES) hosted within the Flexibility Exchange Platform (FXP) bears capabilities far beyond the present market, as it creates the conditions necessary for industrial consumers to trade flexibility contracts, peer-to-peer energy and flexibility trading with full transparency, automatic matching, and without third-party intervention. The offline assessment, achieved in the initial stages, through Techno-economic Evaluation DSR tool will allow the consortium shape appropriate flexibility services and quantify their economic benefit prior to demonstrating it through the FXP.
INFINITE Project is about commercially-driven R&D. It benefits from real-world track record in developing smart energy networks, though the enhancement of the existing FXP and DSR tool and will display unprecedented capabilities from technical implementation up to market realisation.
The objectives of the consortium are presented hereafter:
* Identification and characterisation of the industrial demand flexibility potential in the UK context, tailored for the UK electricity and industrial sector in particular.
* Development of a methodology for optimal economic exploitation of the identified flexibility.
* Validation of the technical capability, including appropriate control features, of industrial plants to provide a diverse portfolio of flexibility services.
The project is about tangible benefits to industrial consumers, taxpayers and electricity system operators:
* New flexibility players: industrial consumers of all sizes, technologies and associated with different manufacturing processes able to trade flexible energy services.
* New revenue streams: access for participants to a widening spread of local and national energy market segments, in which new revenues streams are emerging steadily. COVID-19 is anticipated to increase uncertainty and the need for more flexibility, potentially further enlarging these markets.
* Avoidance of network reinforcements: participation of industrial consumers in the flexibility market, minimising the need for additional capital expenditure to mitigate network stress.
* More clean energy, leading to improved local air quality, and reduced emissions of greenhouse gases through increased utilisation of renewable generation.
A major theme of the UK's low-carbon energy transition is the **rise of the consumer**. No longer just energy buyers on the end of power lines, we can send energy services "back up the wire", reduce costs and generate new revenues in a new, consumer-centric energy world.
In 2030, local power plants (mostly solar and wind) will comprise nearly half of UK capacity, up from a quarter in 2018\. Much will be traded peer-to-peer by a new class of energy "prosumers" offering a range of clean energy services locally, and to the grid operators.
The **Liverpool Multi-vector Energy Exchange** (LMEX) will create a detailed design for a city-wide, smart local energy system that will greatly facilitate clean energy, electric vehicles, and low-carbon heating and cooling. Our design will open the door to a host of innovative technologies including EV charging; heat networks with ground / water / air source heat pumps; solar-powered hydrogen production to replace gas supply and power fuel cells; battery and REDOX based energy storage; and a host of flexible demand approaches.
LMEX comprises two critical layers -- both first-of-a-kind. The first is hardware: a **Smart Network Controller** with capabilities far beyond the present market, to communicate with, control and optimise in real-time myriad local energy assets. The second is software-based: the **Flexibility Exchange Platform** (FXP), through which prosumers will trade peer-to-peer with full transparency, automatic matching, and without third-party intervention. FXP will be grafted on to the control layer so that a) all buy and sell transactions can be honoured; and b) the technical limits of the system cannot be stressed/violated.
LMEX Project is about **commercially-driven R&D**. It benefits from real-world track record in developing smart energy networks, though the city-wide scale envisaged here is far greater than anything in the energy world today.
LMEX is about tangible benefit to prosumers and energy system operators:
* New flexibility players: all sizes, user-types and technologies able to trade clean, flexible energy services across power, heat and cool, and transport.
* More, cheaper, locally produced energy for lower consumer bills.
* Reduced import from the grid for reduced network losses and avoidance of network reinforcement and associated disruptions.
* More clean energy, leading to improved local air quality, and reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.
* New revenue streams: access for participants to a widening spread of local and national energy market segments, in which new revenues streams are emerging steadily.