Member Article

Salford green energy specialist could help UK keep the lights on

Research by Salford green power company ENER-G could help the UK avoid electricity shortages in cold winter spells, while reducing the nation’s carbon footprint.

The National Grid’s Winter Outlook 2014/15 shows that the gap between electricity capacity and peak demand has dropped to 4.1% - the lowest level in eight years - meaning there is little buffer should the UK experience a surge in power demand during a particularly cold spell.

To avoid blackouts, National Grid plans to re-activate three redundant power stations and incentivise businesses to reduce energy usage or switch to their own generation during periods of peak network demand.

But ENER-G says that smart networks of energy efficient combined heat and power (CHP) units could provide an alternative, greener solution to plug electricity supply gaps.

CHP is a proven technology that allows organisations to create their own green, lower cost energy supply. It is almost twice as efficient as conventional power generation because the heat that is normally wasted in conventional power stations is recovered and used on site, rather than wasted into the atmosphere.

“As a popular source of on-site generation, CHP is already playing an important role in reducing network demand, but it could play an even greater role in keeping the lights on”, said Chris Marsland, Technical Director for ENER-G Combined Power Ltd.

He continued: “Rather than taking the backward, and potentially, costly step of bringing old fossil fuel power stations out of ‘mothballs’, clusters of existing CHP systems could be configured to communicate via a decentralised smart-grid. This could plug potential capacity gaps with the added benefit of decarbonising electricity supplies.”

Research undertaken by ENER-G in partnership with Advanced Digital Institute; Flexitricity; Smarter Grid Solutions and UK Power Networks has demonstrated the potential of such CHP Virtual Power Plants.

The research consortium has undertaken extensive simulation and modelling, using real data from ENER-G CHP systems. This has demonstrated the scale of the opportunity to use complex software and a central control system to tap into existing electricity supplies from CHP units. By linking demand and supply in this way peaks in electrical demand can be relieved.

Chris Marsland added: “Our customers are increasingly concerned about security of their power supplies, as well as saving money on energy and reducing carbon emissions. Active Virtual Power Plants - linking highly energy efficient CHP units via a decentralised smart-grid - can provide the low carbon, cost effective answer to these challenges. They can also plug future capacity gaps resulting from increased renewable energy from intermittent sources such as wind and solar. In this way, CHP can help create a secure and stable network.”

Further information: www.energ.co.uk/chp

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ENER-G Combined Power Ltd .