The ReDREAM project, funded by EU Horizon 2020, wants to put consumers at the centre of the energy market. As Steve Gillman explains, people and businesses can shape their supply and demand by owning local renewable generation and combining that with smart systems that give visibility of prices and generation to enable control of demand, right down to the level of heat pumps, washing machines, hot water systems and EVs. A 300-household pilot is … [Read more...]
Smart households in a high Renewables world: flexible, efficient, cheaper
Smart controls can enable household heating and EVs to interact flexibly with increasingly decentralised electricity generation. As renewables continue to be added to the energy mix, it will increase efficiency, reduce load, and save money. Marco Reiser and Karoline Steinbacher at Guidehouse summarise the challenges and opportunities, before looking at the SINTEG pilot in Germany. The main hurdles are technological (standardisation, interfaces, … [Read more...]
Grid-scale modelling of Distributed Energy Resources and dynamic pricing for all customers
Smart grids can solve multiple problems now and throughout the lifetime of the energy transition. The supply from hundreds (existing + new wind, solar, etc.) and ultimately millions (rooftop solar, EV batteries) of power sources can be matched in real time with demand from all major customer devices (air conditioners, water heaters, batteries, EVs). Dynamic pricing keeps the peaks low and the troughs high. It takes the pressure off total load, … [Read more...]
Intelligent, flexible Sector Coupling in cities can double the potential for Wind and Solar
This week the European Commission tabled the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which should accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings. Buildings and cities play a key role in the energy transition. And the target high shares of variable renewable power supply will be much more easily achieved if the sectors using them display demand flexibility. In essence, that means using or storing the excess wind and solar generation … [Read more...]
U.S. DoE: National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Energy-Efficient Buildings
Buildings account for more than 70% of U.S. electricity use and one-third of economy-wide CO2 emissions. Andrew Satchwell at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory presents the U.S. Department of Energy’s comprehensive plan, “A National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings”, that could deliver up to $200bn in savings to the U.S. power system and cut CO2 emissions by 80m tons per year by 2030 (6% of total power sector emissions). … [Read more...]
