Transactive Energy Supply Arrangements

Lead Research Organisation: University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Abstract

In recent years there has been a huge investment in micro generation from both customers and small scale providers, particularly in residential PV. However, current metering arrangements are very basic, which limits the effectiveness of this investment.

If there was provision for neighbours to trade energy directly with each other, and be compensated for doing so, the true potential of this investment would be unlocked. Identifying the biggest issues for small scale energy providers is challenge, facilitating micro payments, more representative billing algorithms and time of day pricing would allow a provider to sell energy to local end-users.

The inclusion of energy storage could play a key role in developing a low-carbon energy systems, bringing flexibility and providing back-up to intermittent renewable generation sources. Understanding how storage is to be used locally would improve the management of distribution networks, reduce costs and improve efficiencies, supporting grid decarbonisation and off-setting the need for costly network investment.

Our research will inform on the obstacles and enablers for future energy supply arrangements at the local, decentralised and neighbourhood scales. Transacting directly with end users and producers deep down in the utility networks in an economically viable manner is currently a significant business and technological challenge with not all barriers well understood.

Through cross disciplinary research the TESA project will landscape the social, technical, regulatory, and design pathways to enable the future supply of energy to customers that will further stimulate investment in electricity generation both from small scale providers and customers themselves, reducing the nation's demands for large scale infrastructure investments.

Planned Impact

When realised as a full research programme, key beneficiaries from TESA research will include innovators in energy retail and through these, consumers. Emerging energy retailers will be informed of the technical areas considered valuable to support novel energy delivery practices, the means by which these practices can interact with existing systems while remaining within existing regulatory constraints and the human factors involved with interacting with such a system within domestic routine. Distribution Network Operators, small generation providers and rural communities served by networks with minimal capacity who will see benefits such as deferred infrastructure investment costs, increased return on investment (through reduced curtailment) and improved system resilience. Through our engagement with stakeholders and external partners through this scoping exercise early progression along these impact pathways will be achieved providing a platform for further development as the full programme of research is realised.

In particular:

*Housing Associations - will be in a more advised position to innovate on future energy service offerings and at a minimum move towards personalisation of fuel advice, providing their tenants with additional peace of mind regarding energy bills.

*Consumer Groups (e.g. Which? Centre for Sustainable Energy) - would have an increasingly informed perspective on the emerging independent energy retailers and the benefits they can offer over the mainstream alternative.

*Community Groups (e.g. The Findhorn Eco-Community, Community Energy Scotland, Feldheim, Muswell Hill Sustainable Energy) - may benefit them directly through seeing what is possible in the field of energy retail and, through their networking with Development Trusts and other Community Trust organisations, the wider sector of community asset management.

Additionally, past consortium experience provides impact leverage through the project team's contacts with the other RCUK energy programmes and the broader set of energy systems stakeholders, including:

* Governance/Policy: - Ofgem, Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise

* Research: UKERC, ECCI, Energy System Catapult, EPSRC, BRE

* Industry: Scottish Power Energy Networks, Scottish and Southern Energy, Rolls-Royce, NGC, WPD, Open Energy, Kiwi Power, Flextricity, Utility Retail businesses

* Communications/ICT: Open Energy, Vodafone, Huwaui, Cisco

* SMEs: Smarter Grid Solutions, filamentpd, Swarmonline, Star Renewable Energy, VCharge

Dialog with these stakeholders will identify the specific problem cases routinely encountered with each aspect of energy supply which can be generalised to policy influence and evolution.
 
Title TESA Home Energy Interfaces 
Description Working individually or in small teams, design students at Glasgow School of Art conducted a human factors analysis of eight home energy monitors. From this the students selected from a range of 12 established usability methods to develop a more tailored analysis, primarily based on the issues discovered and the insights that each method is designed to provide. These choices take account of Peer-to-Peer solutions for householders in the distribution network 
Type Of Art Image 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact A range of designs and mock ups of energy interfaces 
 
Description The large majority of projects in energy to date do not require a blockchain - they require a database. There are still issues to be resolved concerning the appropriateness of P2P solutions in energy systems - specifically where, when and why - although they certainly have a role. The existing regulatory environment internationally has made an allowance for such 'demonstration projects' to fit in but issues surrounding governance, ownership and application still need to be understood. End user engagement in these types of systems will be a significant undertaking - needing clear leadership, social acceptance and appropriate interfaces. There is more to this area than the scary news stories related to fluctuations in 'cryptocurrencies'
Exploitation Route Implement the TESA 'blockchain' system architecture on the Scottish Electricity Grid - the fit with rural local energy projects is good as they often aspire to local supply and demand balancing. More work on the design and communication of outcomes in a user-friendly way (e.g. interactive PDFs) - this would help people understand why and when they might want to appropriately use Blockchain technology or participate in the energy system.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Energy

Financial Services

and Management Consultancy

Government

Democracy and Justice

Security and Diplomacy

 
Description The findings of TESA have been used with industry (ScottishPower and SSE) and commercial energy system providers (CGI, Bellrock Technology) to promote and discuss digital transactions of electrical energy. These types of organisations continue to be interested in this emerging area both from the perspective of physical and financial transactions. The work that was conducted through TESA lead to the Strathclyde teams involvement on the AGILE project that specifically looked at digital aggregation in the energy market place.
First Year Of Impact 2016
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description Appointed to directorate of ClimateXChange
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
Impact Ggive insight to the emerging policy questions from Scottish Government, the skillsets and knowledge across Scottish Universities that can answer those questions, and an opportunity to shape ClimateXChange over the coming years.
URL https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/
 
Description Participation in advisory committee - Agri-Energy Fund - Panel Memeber
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
Impact Local energy systems projects related to agriculture were reviewed for the Scottish Goverment
 
Description AGILE - Aggregators as diGital Intermediaries in Local Electricity markets: EPSRC/ESC Follow on Funding
Amount £719,499 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/S003088/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2018 
End 05/2021
 
Description IIT Comillas 
Organisation Comillas Pontifical University
Country Spain 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Visited IIT Comillas in Madrid as part of a research collaboration - alignment made academics (Dr Alvarao Miralles) and post graduate studnets (Dr Francisco Martinez) who have linked reseach work in home energy monitoring. We broadly discussed modeling tools for DER operation and their Impact in residential. The TESA work as it progressing beyond a scoping project would compliment there work well as they need a secure pricing structure. I also spent time with other members of the department
Collaborator Contribution Shared ideas, models and data. We are collectively part of a Comillas/Uos engagement with Iberdrolla and we discussed progress on this relationship and how we might accelerate things
Impact Joint proposal with UoS/ITTc Comillas/MIT made to Iberdrolla to sponsor some research work
Start Year 2017
 
Description Locational Marginal Pricing for a Local Energy Market 
Organisation Centrica
Department Distributed Energy and Power Systems
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Distribution network modelling (132kv to 33kv) for an existing and future system. Constructed a Locational Marginal Pricing Model that could be implemented on top of the network model - this allowed losses and potential flow constraints to be determined and prices allocated to nodes across the system in response to this.
Collaborator Contribution Industry steer and oversight was provided for a study of the MV network in the South East of England
Impact Technical report prepared and KE presentation to the Centrica team
Start Year 2017
 
Description TIC Innovation 
Organisation Government of Scotland
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Knowledge exchange with Scottish DNO innovation managers, Scottish Policy Makers to learn about the potential for peer-to-peer trading in the energy markets, and to discuss the business, regulatory and social implications from your perspective. Provided a brief explanation of blockchain technology highlighting the role of the consumer and the oppurtunities for networks. Presentated the TESA trans-active energy model - what a peer-to-peer model for energy trading could look like and how market-led incentives can handle various scenarios in an energy network and marketplace.
Collaborator Contribution Participation in workshop - links made to company individuals with responsibility for Peer to Peer/Blockchain.
Impact Provide guidance and technical review on company submission for innovation project with Energy Systems Catapult.
Start Year 2017
 
Description TIC Innovation 
Organisation Scottish Power Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Knowledge exchange with Scottish DNO innovation managers, Scottish Policy Makers to learn about the potential for peer-to-peer trading in the energy markets, and to discuss the business, regulatory and social implications from your perspective. Provided a brief explanation of blockchain technology highlighting the role of the consumer and the oppurtunities for networks. Presentated the TESA trans-active energy model - what a peer-to-peer model for energy trading could look like and how market-led incentives can handle various scenarios in an energy network and marketplace.
Collaborator Contribution Participation in workshop - links made to company individuals with responsibility for Peer to Peer/Blockchain.
Impact Provide guidance and technical review on company submission for innovation project with Energy Systems Catapult.
Start Year 2017
 
Description TIC Innovation 
Organisation Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Knowledge exchange with Scottish DNO innovation managers, Scottish Policy Makers to learn about the potential for peer-to-peer trading in the energy markets, and to discuss the business, regulatory and social implications from your perspective. Provided a brief explanation of blockchain technology highlighting the role of the consumer and the oppurtunities for networks. Presentated the TESA trans-active energy model - what a peer-to-peer model for energy trading could look like and how market-led incentives can handle various scenarios in an energy network and marketplace.
Collaborator Contribution Participation in workshop - links made to company individuals with responsibility for Peer to Peer/Blockchain.
Impact Provide guidance and technical review on company submission for innovation project with Energy Systems Catapult.
Start Year 2017
 
Description CESI Workshop: Interdisciplinary research for energy systems integration 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The workshop provided a structured discussion between researchers, businesses, other research users and stakeholders, developing good practice guidelines for effective and coherent energy systems integration research in the UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ncl.ac.uk/cesi/events/past_events/interdiscresforesi_usersneeds/
 
Description DAMAGE/Smart Meter Data Working Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A UCL working group that is looking at the utilization, storage, maintenance and specification of UK Smart meter and related data sets. This group is lined to the EPSRC SMRP research project that is managed by UCL
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Delivering a smart energy future (Bath) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The event examined the key issues and emerging solutions in the transition to a smart, decentralised energy system that would enable renewables to thrive in a subsidy-free environment. It brought together leading academics, policy makers and businesses to look at how flexible local markets will work, emerging business models and the enabling technologies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.regensw.co.uk/Event/delivering-a-smart-energy-system
 
Description EU Clean Islands Programme : Grid Islands in Scotland 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Isles of Canna, Eigg, Rum, Muck, Fair Isle and Foula have been chosen in a competitive process as an 'off-grid consortium' to work together on their decarbonisation agendas. Digitization and information management of the type considered in EPSRC TEAS could play a role in supporting the developmetn of these communities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Human Factors 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Forma design exercise undertaken with MEng Design Students at Glasgow School of Art - students conducted a formal design exercise around the interfaces associated with Peer-to-Peer trading. The students then identified and recruited a small group of householders to take part in the study, mostly through their social networks, who matched the profile of their chosen user group. Between 10-12 designs concepts established which included mock-ups of the interfaces -- themes included (1) Provision for Neighbours to Trade Energy Directly (2) New Interfaces for Energy Forecasting (3) New Interfaces to Incentivize Householders to Produce Renewable Energy
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description IEEE Blockchain conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Recognizing the importance of Blockchain and related technologies, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers held a workshop to foster the development of an initiative. This was attend by one of the TESA team and they presented on the model developed as part of the project. This was generally well received and there has been some minor follow up since the conference
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description NEMDER Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Attended the New Methods and Data for Energy Research (NEMDER) project workshop. The aim of the project was to assess the utility of new data sources and computational methods for the management of a future energy system with a high share of intermittent renewable generation and new sources of demand. The NEMDER project looks to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. The workshop engaged with experts from across academia, policy, industry and commerce in discussions on how these
new approaches can transform the energy sector.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Ofgem Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A research workshop to learn about the potential for peer-to-peer trading in the energy markets, and to discuss the business, regulatory and social implications from your perspective.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description PNDC workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Three special sessions held at the Power Network Demonstration Centre for distribution grid speicalists, security and communications researchers as part of the technical theme meetings. Attended by industry specialists and SMES -- leading to detailed technical discussion and exchange in each case as various priorities and interests emerged.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Prospering from the Energy Revolution 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited to attend information and feedback session hosted by Innovate UK around one of the 11 themes fro innovation (Prospering from the energy revolution) -- 4 of these themes to be funded at the £100M scale. A visionary challenge was presented which saw new tech and wealth creation at its center -- the work of TESA sat very ell with two of the themes - namely future demonstrators and an more speculative part for scoping the elements of such demonstrators.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2007,2017
 
Description Researcher Visit (Denmark) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact TESA project associate(Calum Edmunds) visited DTU Denmark - visiting their microgrid facility and engaging with post graduate researchers on distributed markets. He saw first hand their DSR activities integrated into builidings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description SSE Future Networks/DSO meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Along with other DNOs SSE are recognizing that they are in a rapidly changing environment, which fro them means focusing on innovation, learning by doing and making smarter
investment decisions rather then relying on existing practices. Through this workshop (and an equivalent event held in England) SSE outlined their principles they were adhereing to as part of the transitioning from DNO to a DSO. They view this development as a key pillar in the delivery of the smart grid and it is central to their plans. At this event the TESA team were able to engage with a range of industry and policy people on areas of the DSO that are related to more localised management of energy systems , distributed balancing and settlement and emerging use cases (EV dense systems).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Scottish Government Energy Vision Summit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Networks Vision Summit provided an opportunity for focused, stakeholder-led, discussion and debate about what Scotland needs from its gas and electricity networks and we do hope to see you there.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Smart Fintry Dissemination Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Three TESA associates attended this local energy dissemination event. The discussion broadened beyond Smart Fintry to include the P2P concepts and regulatory aspects
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Whole Systems Scoping Studies Seminar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Engagement with the Energy Systems Catapult and the EPSRC on the TESA project at a Whole Systems Scoping Studies Seminar held in Birmingham
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017