SCORRES: Smart Control of Rural Renewable Energy & Storage

This project will demonstrate the benefits of demand management strategies in distressed grids in developing nations. It will use energy storage in the form of batteries and demand scheduling to improve energy security and to reduce curtailment of renewable generation. The project will develop research that has been demonstrated in a European context and prove its value in the context of developing nations. It will address the challenges of providing rural communities in developing nations with access to reliable, clean, affordable energy, particularly where the electricity provided via the grid is unavailable or unreliable.
The Energy Trilemma will be tested by: 1. Security of supply: Outages will be avoided using sufficient photovoltaic generation, batteries and ORIGIN forecasting and demand control activating non-essential load shedding. 2. Affordability: A business model with regulation and tariff changes, will outline benefits for the utility by reducing solar capacity constraints and for the villagers by encouraging behavioural change towards technology adaption. 3. Emissions: Supply and demand management of renewable solar energy will provide low carbon operating footprints. India's energy demand is set to more than double by 2040 propelled by a larger economy, a growing population and the Federal Government priority for universal energy access. An estimated 300 million people, primarily in rural areas, are currently without access to electricity. Of the resultant increase in energy demand, an anticipated 40% will be met by renewable generation, including 40 GW of decentralised, off-grid rooftop solar. Poor access to reliable energy hampers rural development & agriculture, deprives villagers of the benefits of energy access and stalls economic activity, while stimulating migration to cities.
The project will use advanced highly localised weather forecasting techniques previously developed by Heriot-Watt University to forecast renewable generation and community energy demand in the village of Irumbai in Tamil Nadu, India. These 72-hour ahead forecasts will then be used to inform an energy storage and demand management system to maximise the uptake of onsite PV generation and reduce grid instability in a location where frequent power outages occur. Demand management will include the control of crop specific, pumped agricultural irrigation systems, activated for night time operation from soil humidity and temperature sensors. The system will enable the optimal use of electrical energy storage to reduce both curtailment of local PV generation and power supply disruption.
The project will be based around two neighbouring field trial sites. The first is the village of Irumbai with ~700 inhabitants, where community energy systems include PV generation and battery storage, supplying residential and community buildings, street lighting and water pumps, which will be used to provide the potential for energy orchestration and demand response. The second will be the nearby Buddha Garden, a solar-powered and ORIGIN controlled irrigation pumping field trial where the project team will test the technology in a sector where highly efficient off-grid solutions will greatly benefit farmers and utilities. Better management of supply and demand will offset the requirement to upgrade grid distribution networks thereby reducing the capital cost of achieving the "Power for All" aims of the Indian Government. The combination of renewable generation, energy storage and forecasting technology is particularly suited to off-grid and weak grid areas, often where the highest levels of poverty exist.
Towards the end of the project a feasibility report will cover technical infrastructure, regulatory issues and community restrains for villagers and farmers around a proposed new energy supply strategy and economic model.

The primary beneficiaries of SCORRES will be remote communities in developing economies with unreliable or intermittent access to electricity. They will benefit through improved security of supply and reduced curtailment of renewable generation this improving return on investment. Energy security leads to the support of the local economy, health and education. The demand management and energy storage technology also has the potential to reduce the cost of energy in poor communities.
Farmers in developing economies will benefit from SCORRES as it will demonstrate the benefit of night time irrigation and crop specific irrigation schedules based on soil condition monitoring. Reduced evaporation will be of benefit to the local environment where current over abstraction is leading to encroachment of saline water into the inland water table. Optimised use of irrigation pumps will reduce water consumption and hence associated carbon emissions.
Grid Infrastructure Providers will benefit from SCORRES because the demand response system and provision of optimised energy storage will reduce the need for physical strengthening of grid infrastructure thus delaying the need for expensive new investment. The development of improved, autarkic micro grids reduced the need for extensive additions to the grid distribution network.
Energy Retailers will benefit from better return on investment in renewable energy systems through allowing them to increase participation in demand scheduling. The generation and demand forecasting technologies developed and adapted in SCORRES and the associated smart energy storage systems will enable better energy planning and participation in demand response activities. These demand response activities will allow the retailers to create new tariff structures to reward villages and the retailers for participating in the new system.
Renewable Energy Systems Providers will be able to deploy smart energy controls that increase the effectiveness of their products allowing for shorter pay back times for customers. This will be achieved through reduced curtailment and increased uptake of renewable generation through smart energy storage and controls. This improves investment prospects in the renewables industry.
The Indian Government will benefit because SCORRES will support their energy for all programme through accelerating deployment of renewable generation and storage in autarkic and weakly connected micro grids. On a larger scale it will also support the Smart Cities initiative.
The International Community will benefit from reduced carbon emissions in the developing economy of India's rural and semi-rural communities.
The Academic Community will benefit from the provision of excellent case studies concerning the development of sustainable energy infrastructure in the developing world. Datasets and project experience will be made available to the wider academic community through appropriate publication and public archiving of anonymised data. This will lead to new university teaching material.