Ebbs and Flows of Energy Systems (EFES)

The Ebbs and Flows of Energy Systems (EFES) project looks to develop a grid balancing platform to provide electrical support to the national grid during peak energy demand times, such as evenings. The project will achieve this through development of a virtual power plant (VPP), a cloud based 'power plant', capable of utilising dispirate electricity storage assets through a software package and controlled by utility providers. Supporting technology will also be developed through this project, including; a building energy management system (BEMS) for domestic and commercial building control functionality to support the VPP, domestic battery storage (BS) to store electricity during low tariff times for re-distribution during peak demand and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric vehicle (EV) charging capability to enable EVs to act as a battery store. The VPP will use current and historical consumer data to caculate the available battery provision to the national grid. The result of this support is a reduced requirement for rapid response services in the way of fossil fuel power plants, generating both a economic and environmental savings.