Consortium to launch unique energy company at £100m Nottingham scheme

Members of the consortium at Trent Basin

A Nottingham developer has put together a “trailblazing” consortium which it says will “set the bar” for community energy schemes.

Blueprint, along with its partners, will install Europe’s largest community battery (2MWh), and solar photovoltaics at its Trent Basin residential scheme, that will generate, store and distribute energy at a neighbourhood level, and launch a unique energy company for residents.

Blueprint says the pilot will demonstrate how to lower cost and reduce carbon whilst allowing residents to better engage with the energy they consume.

Homeowners at Trent Basin will be invited to participate in the project and, by opting in, will look to make significant savings in energy costs. Technologies to be employed include photovoltaic panels, communal battery and heat stores and ground source heat pumps.

The project; research, technology and installation; in planning for just three years, is being supported by £6m of grant funding from Innovate UK via two Energy Programmes, The Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) and Project SCENe (Sustainable Community Energy Networks). A formidable consortium of partners has come together to deliver the scheme, including Blueprint, The University of Nottingham, AT Kearney, Smartklub, Siemens, URBED, Slam Jam, Stickyworld, Loughborough University, Solar Ready and supported by Nottingham City Council.

The project is also being supported by local suppliers such as EvoEnergy, contracted to install the battery storage solution at the Community Energy System at Trent Basin.

Mike Salisbury is head of engineering at EvoEnergy. He said: “It is a pleasure to be awarded the opportunity to work alongside like-minded companies and individuals that share the same vision as ourselves for the future of energy storage technology. The locality of the project also increases the sentiment and we’re delighted that we can now bring to life the commercial viability of two years’ hard work and planning for a ground-breaking project that will provide a repeatable and scalable model for the future.”

(L-R) Mark Gillott, professor of sustainable building design, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham; Charles Bradshaw-Smith, CEO, SmartKlub; Nick Ebbs, chief executive, Blueprint; councillor Jon Collins, leader of Nottingham City Council and Gordon Waddington, chief executive, Energy Research Accelerator (ERA)

Project input has also been provided by the regionally based business, Focus Consultants. Partner at the firm, Keith Butler said: “As the project managers and energy advisors for the Trent Basin scheme, Focus Consultants are very pleased to be part of this development which is pioneering the way homes and communities receive their energy and could have huge implications for the future.”

Councillor Alan Clark, portfolio holder for energy & sustainability at Nottingham City Council, said: “I am delighted that Nottingham has been chosen to pilot this innovative scheme. This highlights that the city is at the cutting edge of energy innovation, having the right people and infrastructure to get these types of projects off the ground. This growth in community renewable energy will help to sustain our status as the most energy self-sufficient city in the UK.”

Gordon Waddington, chief executive of the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA), said: “One of the great issues of our time is to try and make enough clean energy quickly and cheaply. This is a global issue, and perhaps the greatest technical challenge we face. The aim of ERA is to bring together expertise to demonstrate what can be done through thinking and working innovatively and collaboratively.

“The Community Energy demonstrator at Trent Basin is a great example of how existing technologies can be used to enable communities to significantly reduce their reliance on non-renewable energy sources.”

Blueprint’s chief Executive, Nick Ebbs, said: “Technologies now exist that mean we can deliver community energy in a way that can bring real benefits to consumers and significantly reduce carbon. The barrier to adoption has been the complexity of putting consumers, new technologies and business models together in a way that makes it all work. That is why Innovate UK is supporting this pilot. We feel privileged to be involved in such a ground-breaking initiative.

“The distribution system will be connected to the grid and, in addition to drawing renewable energy from community sources, will be able to buy power from the grid when it has surplus and redistribute to meet demand. There is a need to find ways to store energy typically at night when demand is slack, smoothing out the peaks and troughs of supply and demand.

“The way we generate and distribute energy in the UK is inefficient and carbon intensive. It doesn’t have to be like this. With new technologies, especially in renewable energy and storage it is possible to do better.”

The Community Energy project is being developed by industry and an academic team headed up by Professor Mark Gillott, Professor of Sustainable Building Design, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Nottingham.

Gillott said: “This home-grown smart technology will have a huge impact on the UK’s energy sector for decades to come and home owners will feel the benefits in their pockets with cheaper energy bills. Our aim is to make it commercially viable which will increase the take up of the technology and revolutionise the energy sector.

“We need a mind shift away from personalised household energy generation, storage and use to larger community schemes that provide greater efficiencies and cost savings.”

Ebbs continued: “The project takes our commitment to sustainability to an entirely new level. Our aspiration is to be able to replicate the model, once proven, with our future pipeline of large scale residential projects. It’s a game changer for the energy market.”

Trent Basin is a £100m residential development which is part of the 250-acre Waterside Regeneration area in Nottingham. Phase One, completed at the end of 2016, comprises 45 low energy homes including eight apartments. Phase Two will start later this year.

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