News

Durham Energy Institute plays key part in UK’s biggest smart grids project

(2 December 2010)

Households and businesses in the north of England will be among the first in Britain to benefit from the introduction of a smarter electricity grid as a result of a £54 million project involving Durham University.

The project is led by CE Electric UK and involves Durham University's Durham Energy Institute, British Gas and EA Technology. 

The project, which will involve around 14,000 homes and businesses centred in the north of England, is aimed at producing knowledge to help electricity customers across the country reduce both their energy costs and their carbon emissions.

If, as a result, it accelerates the introduction of low-carbon technologies by one year, it could save the country around £8 billion in energy costs and 43 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The project, dubbed "The Customer-Led Network Revolution", attracted a £27 million contribution, the largest award made by Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator, when it announced the four winners in its first competition for the Low Carbon Network Fund.

This innovative fund, worth £500 million over five years, was established this year by Ofgem to encourage distribution network companies to engage with partners to carry out ground-breaking projects to help develop a smart grid and assist in the creation of a low carbon economy.

The project will put customers in major cities like Durham, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield as well as those in some of the more sparsely populated parts of the country, at the forefront of the low-carbon agenda.  Durham University will be providing academic rigour to the project through its multi-disciplinary Energy Institute but will also be a customer in the trials.

Professor Phil Taylor, of Durham University's Durham Energy Institute, said:  "I am proud that we have the opportunity to bring the wide range of disciplines available at the Energy Institute to bear on practical issues involving real customers.

"New problems require new solutions, and the combination of cutting edge research with the ability to work with leading industry partners gives us the best chance of delivering real value to customers."

As well as exploring what the impact on electricity demand of customers using PV solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps, the project will explore the use of new technology on the electricity network and commercial solutions, such as different pricing structures.  This will help the electricity industry find the best way to keep down the cost of connecting customers to the grid and minimising the cost of meeting their electricity needs.

Phil Jones, CE Electric's President, said:  "This is a ground-breaking project - and we will not be able to deliver this on our own. Each of our partners is a leader in their field.  This speaks volumes for the importance of this work and the strength of our bid."

Today's electricity grid was not designed to cope with widespread use of technology like solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, where households can sell excess electricity back to the grid, or electric cars which consume large amounts of electricity.  With these technologies set to grow in popularity and solar panel sales hitting record numbers, it is vital that the electricity grid can evolve to accommodate these extra demands.

Over a three-year period, CE Electric and its partners will be trialling smart grid solutions on the higher voltage networks within the electricity grid as well as creating meaningfully sized clusters of smart-enabled homes to give customers more flexibility over the way they use and generate electricity.

The results will help the network companies make sure the electricity networks can handle the mass introduction of solar panels, electric cars and other greener technology.

Phil Jones added: "This is a project whose time has come.  What is being contemplated in the electricity industry is nothing short of a revolution. It used to be that all the power came from a few power stations to every property - and all the energy all flowed one way.

"The prospect of smarter networks opens up a whole new set of possibilities - customers can generate their own energy and use home-based technology to regulate how and when they use it.

"Given the strength of the competition, I am delighted that Ofgem has recognised our project as being one that should proceed."

• Durham Energy Institute