Energy and the Local Grid, Decentralised Energy
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Sustainable Leeds rd 3 November 2018 Energy and the local grid, Decentralised Energy. The home, people & transport. A future for Leeds and an example of a power supply enabler? Part 2 of 3 About My engagement with community and social little by way of action and trialling of new issues started some 5 years ago when I ideas and concepts. was able to leave employment and choose The Council’s governance structure my own path. appears unable to engage with community My early career as a builder, designer and groups and larger visioning for a greener surveyor, involved in the provision of and more community orientated way of homes, schools, hospitals, social units, doing things. community and business premises, gave This Outline is a continuation of our me an insight into the relationship between Sustainable Energy Concept, A West people and the structures in which we live Paul Quarmby and work. Leeds Distributed Energy Grid. We now Ask the question: How do we, how will we, Author & questioner The latter years brought questions and get generated power and energy from of the status quo! insights about people’s social needs, our generators to users? future and the potential stratification of society. We hope this element proves to be comprehensible and promotes discussion My current concerns are with today’s and maybe trials of options moving Leeds problems and ensuring an equitable towards our common and legally required sustainability into the future. decarbonisation objectives. I have instigated several projects, designed We hope through partnerships and to put people first, improve lives and create community engagement to make Leeds a community. While these projects have not forward-looking and green city where jobs yet progressed to completion they have and businesses have a positive impact on promoted discussion and spin off projects people’s health, outlooks and opportunities which are being taken forwards by local and make Leeds a truly great place to live. groups. Paul Quarmby For me, one of the bigger issues is how we Sustainability Advocate, engage with our Local Authority. Our local [email protected] governance system is supposed to plan Mob: 07905 005983 and prepare for the future and yet we see Contents About .......................................................................................................... 1 Executive Summary .................................................................................... 3 Northern PowerGrid, say: ........................................................................ 3 Introduction ................................................................................................. 5 Without a visible governmental plan we speculate .................................. 6 Proposal ..................................................................................................... 8 A typical Secondary School ...................................................................... 10 Potential benefit for the school .................................................................. 11 A school as an energy hub ....................................................................... 12 Potential to expand and adapt the concept ............................................... 16 Social Benefit ........................................................................................... 17 Stakeholder Consultation .......................................................................... 18 Planning ................................................................................................... 19 General concerns about local hubs, local generation & distribution .......... 20 Promotion of the project and concept ....................................................... 21 Executive Summary Northern PowerGrid, say: We can now see a change in the way cities, homes and businesses The government have put clean growth at the centre of our look to Smart technologies and philosophies to reduce costs and modern Industrial Strategy: changing the way we heat our ensure supply continuity, and it is now predicted that near doubling homes, power our cars, and run our electricity grid. Traditional of the electrical grid capacity will be required in the not too distant ways of distributing electricity to our customers in our region future. are no longer appropriate in a world where patterns of Currently electricity networks are planned and designed on the basis generation and consumption are increasingly complex. We of meeting the local peak demand or peak generation placed on now need to play a more active role in order to continue to them. This peak might only occur for a few hours on a handful of deliver a safe, reliable and affordable service to our eight days a year. When a new customer (demand or generation) million customers. requests a connection to the network, companies assess whether Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) have taken the first steps the capacity requested will breach demand or generation limits at towards becoming Distribution System Operators (DSOs), the term this peak time. If it does, then reinforcement of the network is given to a model where the operator takes a more active role in required. These costs can be considerable and with the expansion of managing local electricity generation and use. cities and urban areas become increasingly likely. The relationship between the national transmission network, local On the back of successful trials, funded through Ofgem’s low carbon distribution, generators and purchasers of power are changing and network fund, many companies are now allowing new customers to the areas of responsibility may become, dangerously, blurred by new connect to networks without reinforcement, but this becomes technologies and a desire of Government and Consumers/Suppliers increasingly risky as alternative generation, often weather to push for reduced costs while allowing all, including the public, to dependant, introduces an unknown element and increased risk of derive a greater income. oversupply and unmatched demand. Whilst I do not yet see an agreement on how systems will operate in These so called non-firm connections require a greater degree of harmony the ENA ‘Open Networks’ project, launched at the start of control and we speculate problematic contracting. 2017, has brought together UK’s transmission and distribution grid We thus suggest that district energy hubs with active network operators and was recognised in the 2017 BEIS & Ofgem Smart management and automated grid balancing provision be considered Systems and Flexibility Plan as a ‘key initiative’ for decarbonisation to combat high levels of intermittent and inflexible generation and and change. feel more responsive local grids will be possible if areas are islanded around such hubs. And for administration of the new generation of customer/supplier, These hubs already exist within the quite densely populated we note the progress of Blockchain related concepts. GE Power areas of Leeds and thus what is needed is the cooperation of Digital has joined a study to evaluate the use of blockchain Leeds City Council, a Desire to plan for the future and a study technology for energy industry applications. The study – launched by to establish the practicality of such a concept. the German energy agency, Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) – will investigate whether blockchain applications can be operated economically and reliably in the energy industry. This document suggests that a small scale trial of a distributed energy grid, established within an existing urban area, takes place. And from such a trial we extrapolate the practicality of adopting such ideas across Leeds and the rest of the Country. That Energy Hubs could be created in 65 community areas within the Leeds area and could be used to moderate supply and demand and protect local distribution networks by: Generating electricity at peak times to aid the balancing of the local distribution grid. To absorb, store or utilise surplus capacity from the local grid. That the technology and philosophy of green energy is used as a teaching resource. That the power of community, that is established around these hubs be utilised to create interest and take up of Green and Smart technologies within the local community and distribution area. Introduction Climate change, the 2050 Carbon Reduction targets What does this mean for the future of the existing and the regulations we have created to offset energy sector, the transmission and distribution problems and protect our planet and ourselves in networks we currently use? future years mean that: Comment: National Grid: Future Energy Scenarios. We must reduce our CO2 production, and halt the release of other July 2018. gasses that blanket the earth and add to the earths heat retention We are entering a new world of energy. The expected growth of low problems, This requires our action in the following ways: carbon and decentralised generation means the electricity system As our energy systems are major producers of carbon we must will need to change. decarbonise electricity and heat. Capacity could increase from 103GW today to between 189GW and That district heat networks will be required. 268GW by 2050, with the more decarbonised scenarios requiring the highest capacities. Up to 65 per cent of generation could be local by That electricity will be in greater demand for heating, cooling and to 2050. power heat pumps and networks. High levels of intermittent and inflexible generation will