Articles and case studies

Articles

Please use the links below to read our latest articles on community energy:

Getting finance for community energy 

Case Studies

Regen in partnership with Nationa Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), have developed three new case studies, alongside some short animations, looking at the growth of electric vehicles, the shift to Distribution System Operator and the role of local flexibility markets. Designed with community energy groups in mind, they shed some light on some of the current hot topics in the energy transition. By providing a brief introduction into each subject, these case studies and short animations are aimed at those interested in some of the changes, and potential opportunities in the energy sector.

The growth of electric vehicles 
The shift to Distribution System Operator 
The role of local flexibility 
 
These publications relate to a collection of animations produced for NGED on the same topics.

There are also three further case studies which are detailed below. 

OpenLV

OpenLV is a Network Innovation Competition (NIC) research and development project that will trial and demonstrate an open, flexible platform that could ultimately be deployed in every HV and LV substation in Great Britain. NGED are the host Network Operator with EATL proving the technical lead and Project Management.

The project will demonstrate that the Solution can:

• Provide a platform to deploy a workable open substation platform for both monitoring and control of the LV network; 
• Create an Eco-System to provide third parties, including community groups with access to LV network data; and
• Stimulate the Market to facilitate a common platform with low cost entry for a range of new App developers.

More details are here: https://openlv.net

For more details about seven of our community energy groups, click on the images below. 

For a pdf version of Open LV Case Studies click here.                         

Sunshine Tariff

Regen SW worked with National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and Tempus Energy to trial a Sunshine Tariff in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

The trial looked to understand how different customers engage with a cheaper daytime tariff and how active they become in changing their consumption patterns in response to this price signal. The project aimed to resolve network capacity issues in the local area by incentivising customers to use electricity between 10am and 4pm in the summer months, which is often when solar generation is at its greatest.

More details are here: https://www.regensw.co.uk/sunshine-tariff  

View the Sunshine Tariff Summary Report here. 

Plugs and Socket / Cornwall Local Energy Market

NGED are working with Centrica in Cornwall to develop a trading platform for flexibility services, where a customer alters their electricity consumption or generation output for a period of time to benefit a third party.  The trading platform will make it easier for buyers and sellers to trade, and will test out different options for procurement, such as a spot market. The platform also allows for the exchange of information so that the impact of planned changes in generation  or consumption can be included in forecasts.  Flexibility services will allow distribution network operators to defer or avoid reinforcement costs where the potential network issues only occur for a limited time each year. 
 
More details for the Cornwall Local Energy Market can be found here.