TEED (Tyseley Environment Enterprise District)

Project Summary

This project will explore how to deliver a mixed vector energy system with integrated energy storage across the TEED. It will use a Digital Twin to create plans that will decarbonise energy around Tyseley, provide local resilience and create replicable answers for similar communities across GB. It will also explore how to integrate the transition in transport systems (rail, trucks, lighter vehicles, city council fleets and logistics) can be integrated into the energy system.

This application fits with the following round-two Innovation Challenge (also several others):

Accelerating decarbonisation of major energy demands: The decarbonisation of heating requires the integration of existing waste heat sources into the energy system in an optimal configuration. TEED currently has 2, but in the future 3, large scale generators of waste heat. At present, the simplest solution is to connect these sources into the city centre district heating system. However, this bypasses local residents and businesses. Exploring how to integrate a heat network into the development of the green energy system of the TEED will reduce energy losses through local exploitation of the heat. The project will also explore how a hydrogen grid can be integrated with a smart electricity and heat grid to produce an overarching energy system across an urban environment.

The Innovation is to develop a local smart energy system with electricity, hydrogen, heat with energy storage which feeds a mixed community of business, industry and domestic consumers to accelerate a low carbon energy transition for local consumers, with good resilience and lower energy costs.

Experience: The project is led by NGED with experience of the management of the local grid, Tyseley Energy Park who have developed the 10 MW biomass plant and the 3 MW hydrogen electrolyser, Birmingham City Council who have oversight of the net zero transition of Birmingham and experience of developing the Birmingham District Energy Company and district heating, cooling and power system, University of Birmingham who have led innovation in energy systems including energy storage the digital twin of the TEED and the companies EQUANS, Pinnacle Power and SSE all who have considerable experience of developing energy systems at national and city scale.

End users and match to need: The end users are communities of fuel poor households and 250 local businesses. These both have challenges around the decarbonization of energy, energy resilience and cost. This project will examine how local energy assets can support these communities.

• Problem(s)

  This project is an investigation of how a complex, multi-vector energy system with significant local generation and storage can be developed to be optimally resilient and deliver best value to a mixed local community of industry and domestic consumers, alongside ongoing regeneration of the area.

• Innovation Justification

  The problem addressed is the development of a local energy system in areas of high grid constraint, largescale energy generation and a mixed community of consumers. The project will consider 8,000 residents, 250 businesses and integrate current and future waste processing plans of BCC and a low carbon transport hub including the council fleets. A key focus will be ensuring that local energy assets deliver benefits to the local citizens.

  The novelty of this project lies in the existence in an urban environment of up to 60 MW of electrical generation, >100 MW of thermal generation and the UKs leading production of green hydrogen via an offshore wind PPA. This collection of assets embedded in the TEED and with an established energy park provides a unique opportunity to develop an energy infrastructure, linked to the city district heat system, which becomes an exemplar for what is possible nationally. The nature of TEED makes it well matched to being able to explore not only opportunities to develop a local smart heat/power/hydrogen grid but to explore new business models and regulatory approaches. A Digital Twin approach will be integrated into the development to provide scenario planning.

• Key Outputs
  •  Demand for heat, electricity and hydrogen in the TEED area over the next two decades.
  • Electricity grid and its constraints and most effective upgrades
  •  Heat grids across the TEED, with a link to the BDEC scheme
  • Potential for short- and medium-term energy storage for demand management and grid balancing
  •  Impact of the City waste and transport strategy on energy requirements
  •  Potential for a low-temperature network recovering heat from bio and/or hydrogen electrolyser and integration of large-scale thermal storage
  • Potential for a high-temperature heat network with heat from EfW
  • Scope for technology integration alongside EV charging to manage demand side and integration of micro-mobility
  • Hydrogen-grid for industrial and rail decarbonisation
  • An understanding of regulatory, planning and system constraints

  Economics and sustainability: This project bring together partners working with the City Net Zero team to develop the plans for the city, including the area of East Birmingham. The programme will create new jobs and training opportunities for a deprived region. There are no other sources of funding which can support this development given the work cuts across energy vectors and is not yet at a commercial stage. A solution will unlock commercial investment into the Green Innovation Quarter - prioritized by the city for redevelopment.