Electrical and thermal storage optimisation in a virtual power plant

Energy storage is currently receiving great attention from policy-makers, industry as well as research

institutions, as it is considered one of eight great technologies for the future of energy. Combining electricity

and heat for minimising cost and emissions in future networks is an emerging research field. Sussex researchers

have tested the use of advanced systems to optimise use of electricity and heat, but energy storage was not

part of that system. Building on combined electricity and heat, a storage-enabled system groups together the

capacity of electrical and thermal energy systems as one large flexible “power plant” for balancing demand and

supply in a cost-efficient way. This project will focus on energy storage for electricity and heat, with the

possibility of adding more in future research. The challenges this project will address are: (i) feasibility

assessment of the proposed storage control techniques through realistic simulations, (ii) deriving functional

requirements / specifications of storage controller software & hardware, (iii) testing the feasibility of lab-based

storage control implementations.