Battery-powered Britain: Centrica’s Local Energy Market Trial Completes Battery Installation in 100 Cornish Homes

Centrica’s Cornwall Local Energy Market (LEM) is celebrating a major milestone, as the pioneering trial completes the installation of cutting-edge renewable technologies across its residential programme. 

Delivered by Centrica’s Distributed Energy and Power business, Centrica Business Solutions, the £19m Local Energy Market trial has been developed to support the stability of Cornwall’s grid, which is increasingly constrained due to the high penetration of renewables in the county.

One hundred homes across the county have had smart batteries and monitoring equipment installed, as well as solar PV where this was not already in place (60 homes). Powered by the solar panels, the energy in these batteries will now be aggregated and controlled remotely to provide a single block of power and flexibility  to the local grid, making it the largest working example of a domestic Virtual Power Plant in the UK. 

Working with partners from the University of Exeter, Imperial College, Western Power Distribution and National Grid, Centrica has developed an online virtual marketplace that will allow the owners of flexible demand and generation capacity to sell their flexibility. 

To view the full story, click here

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also of Interest from SGO: 

4th Grid Modernization Forum, May 20-22, 2019, Chicago  

Utility Cyber Security Forum, June 26, 2019, San Diego

4th IoT Global Innovation Forum, July 9-10, 2019, Chicago 

10th Microgrid Global Innovation Forum, September 10-12, 2019, London

6th Demand Response & DER World Forum, October 16-17, 2019, San Diego