BIGHIT partner EMEC will lead the first phase of a new £28.5 million Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) project to create a Virtual Energy System (VES) in Orkney, along with BIGHIT partner Orkney Islands Council. Led by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), the ReFLEX Orkney project brings together an expert consortium of Orkney-based partners – Solo Energy, Aquatera, Community Energy Scotland, Heriot-Watt University and Orkney Islands Council – as well as multi-national energy company Doosan Babcock.
The ReFLEX (Responsive Flexibility) Orkney project builds on recent projects in the Orkney Islands, including Surf ‘n’ Turf and BIGHIT. ReFLEX has been launched to digitally link distributed and intermittent renewable generation to flexible demand, and will demonstrate a first-of-its-kind Virtual Energy System (VES) interlinking local electricity, transport, and heat networks into one controllable, overarching system. It aims to create a ‘smart energy island’, demonstrating the energy system of the future, which will reduce and eventually eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
The ReFLEX project is funded by UKRI through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). Energy and Clean Growth Minister, Claire Perry explained “What we are seeing here on Orkney is a test bed for the energy system of the future. These smart systems are a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy and will provide cheaper, greener and more flexible access to energy for everyone. What we learn from these innovations could one day be rolled out across the UK and exported around the world and we’ll be able to say it was ‘Made in Orkney’.”
Electricity, transport and heat powered by local renewable energy generation, will be coupled with flexible energy demand balancing the intermittency of renewables. At the heart of the project is the demonstration of flexible energy balancing technologies. For example, the project aims to deploy:
· Up to 500 domestic batteries;
· Up to 100 business and large-scale batteries;
· Up to 200 Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) chargers;
· Up to 600 new electrical vehicles (EVs);
· An island community-powered electric bus and e-bike integrated transport system;
· Up to 100 flexible heating systems; and
· A Doosan industrial-scale hydrogen fuel cell.
Solo Energy will implement their FlexiGrid software platform enabling smart monitoring and control of the flexible technologies to charge during periods of peak local renewable generation, and release stored energy during times of peak demand.
Link to 4 minute ReFLEX introduction video clip: https://youtu.be/iPn8BGuJx0A