Consumers and businesses based in UK cities stand to benefit from a revolutionary low carbon smart energy grid called GreenSCIES (Green Smart Community Integrated Energy Systems), being launched today (18 February) in London and the West Midlands, by project partners: London South Bank University (LSBU), Transport for London (TfL) and the London Borough of Islington.
Cleverly concealed underground, the new smart energy grid – which has currently reached design stage – will help to power inner cities of the future, revolutionising the way we live now and transforming lives, homes and businesses into sustainable energy districts, while tackling fuel poverty and the negative effects of climate change.
GreenSCIES aims to deliver a solution which can provide low carbon and low cost transport, power and heat to a total of 12,500 homes in the London Borough of Islington and Sandwell in the West Midlands.
When constructed, GreenSCIES systems will deliver low carbon heat, mobility and power to an estimated 33,000 residents and nearly 70 local businesses in Islington. The new smart energy grid will help to reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 80% (against conventional systems) while addressing fuel poverty by providing a significant reduction on consumer bills. The system will also deliver large reductions in pollutants while improving provision of local skills training and job prospects, helping to invigorate local economies.
As a fifth-generation energy network, GreenSCIES goes further than previous projects in the UK. The system works by sharing heating and cooling between buildings, to ensure a balanced energy supply across the network. Waste heat is captured from secondary heat sources – including offices, local data centres and the public transport network. The temperature of the waste heat is then raised or cooled using heat pumps before being distributed to homes, businesses and communities, all year round. By drawing on waste heat produced by data centres that support the Internet, the smart grid will literally channel energy from the Internet to power homes, offices and transport networks of the future.
The impact of LSBU’s research for GreenSCIES reaches well beyond the capital and will be relevant wherever there are sources of unwanted heat, for example large data centres, industrial heat and mine water.
The smart energy network will generate power from renewable energy sources while connecting to the electricity grid and to electric vehicles. It will use artificial intelligence controls to connect flexible electricity demands from heat pumps and electric vehicles to intermittent renewable sources, including solar power – delivering clean, locally produced energy while reducing pollution and supporting a transition to low carbon transport.
The ground-breaking engineering science behind GreenSCIES has been developed by the GreenSCIES consortium – a collection of 16 business partners including a number of Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs), under the umbrella InnovateUK and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Ian Byrne, the principal at IBECCS, is working as an associate on the programme, alongside Consortio Limited , one of the full project partners, with a focus on the business model work stream .
For the latest information on the project, please visit the GreenSCIES website.
