LAEP Forward

The LAEP Forward project addresses the Government's Clean Growth Strategy objective of rolling out appropriate low-carbon heating solutions in homes by using recent advances in energy-efficiency modelling to create home-specific recommendations and benefits cases for decarbonisation investments. The project implements recommendations made in the draft report Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP): The Method commissioned by Ofgem to create energy performance simulations of homes using sensor and smart-meter data with advanced machine learning. Outputs will be shared with households and stakeholders via a local authority administered gateway to support the evaluation of measures to reduce carbon emissions and dynamic local area energy planning. Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) in collaboration with Energy-Systems-Catapult, Welsh Government, energy networks and other stakeholders has produced a strategic LAEP. The LAEP Forward project will enable PassivSystems to develop a new service for BCBC to progress the programs identified in their LAEP from conceptual strategy to design and build. LAEP Forward will achieve this through: 1. Area-based deployment of low-cost wireless sensor equipment in homes 2. Digital-twin modelling of anticipated load profiles for a range of low-carbon technology combinations and control strategies 3. Testing digital-twin modelling assumptions against trial show homes 4. A council administered portal to offer private homeowners and landlords data-driven evidence for technological solutions and suitable services that incorporate domestic flexibility 5. Field trial of the gateway in a target area. There are significant differences between conventional domestic energy-assessment models such as SAP models and measured operational performance. These static models also cannot account for improved multi-vector control strategies, real-time fluctuations in grid-carbon intensity or network constraints. Operational modelling is an emerging field of research with activity focused on technologies that use smart-meter and sensor data to accurately simulate the performance of buildings. PassivSystems has recently prototyped new advanced machine-learning capabilities for characterising the operational performance of domestic buildings using low-cost IoT monitoring devices combined with smart-meter data. Independent field results have demonstrated high confidence in our approach when compared to benchmark co-heating tests. LAEP Forward builds on these technology innovations by linking them to existing LAEP planning, turning strategic intent into practical delivery. The project will fund the creation of the toolset to deliver household guidance, outcome monitoring and future energy planning. The urgent imperative on regional authorities and landlords to plan and deliver domestic decarbonisation will create a significant market for the toolset, which will accelerate societal decarbonisation and green jobs growth.