DecarbonISation PAThways for Cooling and Heating (DISPATCH)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Engineering
Abstract
Heat demand in the UK accounts for around 44% of final energy consumption and is currently predominantly obtained by burning natural gas and oil, representing about 90% of the fuel share, while renewable energy sources supply only a fraction of it. Recent legally binding net-zero targets for greenhouse gas emissions (by 2045 in Scotland and by 2050 for the UK), will truly test our nation's technical and engineering competence and ability to innovate. The net-zero transition will not only require radical changes in technologies-it will also result in a profound impact on our society.
A targeted decarbonisation framework, built from the participation and contribution of every home and every customer, is needed, so each of them may find optimal place and role as a fully functioning part of a wider smart energy system. This will require innovation.
DISPATCH asserts that a net-zero transition in the UK should be planned and realised as a "bottom-up" and "user-centric" approach, where scalability and flexibility are obtained through the aggregation, sharing and control of the resources of individual customers, in such a way that the search for optimal solutions always starts with customers' needs and always ends without reducing customers' comfort levels and sacrificing their wellbeing.
DISPATCH will focus on multi-vector energy solutions for decarbonisation of heating and cooling in residential and typical commercial applications (office buildings, educational facilities, etc.). These can be specified as generic parameterised models, as opposed to medium and large industrial and non-domestic applications. Our decarbonisation framework will also include cooling, which is anticipated to increase due to climate change-caused global warming (since 1884, all of the UK's ten warmest years occurred in years from 2002), but also due to provision of automatic or user-set temperature regulation by reversible heat pumps.
Furthermore, as the net-zero transition through electrification of heating requires electrical-thermal solutions to be better in all aspects than the currently predominant natural gas infrastructure for heating, we will use electrification of heating as a "reference case" for comparative evaluation and ranking of other considered decarbonisation routes.
Arguably, the highest potential for the provision of flexibility and balancing services is through increased customer participation in energy management and coordinated shifting of energy demands in the UK's 27 million homes and 1.4 million SMEs. However, to ensure wider customer engagement and to increase their willingness to take part in various demand-side management (DSM) schemes, they should be able to access appropriate energy exchange and energy trading services for their voluntary or interest-based participation.
DISPATCH approaches the above challenges as actual opportunities for exploring synergies, interoperabilities and the overall integration potential of different energy vectors, in order to identify the most cost-effective solutions for reshaping and redistributing energy flows. For example, we will repurpose balancing and demand shifting controls used in normal operating conditions as low-cost resources for automated frequency response in emergency conditions, and compare its benefits with recently introduced procurement of stability as an ancillary service by NGESO.
A targeted decarbonisation framework, built from the participation and contribution of every home and every customer, is needed, so each of them may find optimal place and role as a fully functioning part of a wider smart energy system. This will require innovation.
DISPATCH asserts that a net-zero transition in the UK should be planned and realised as a "bottom-up" and "user-centric" approach, where scalability and flexibility are obtained through the aggregation, sharing and control of the resources of individual customers, in such a way that the search for optimal solutions always starts with customers' needs and always ends without reducing customers' comfort levels and sacrificing their wellbeing.
DISPATCH will focus on multi-vector energy solutions for decarbonisation of heating and cooling in residential and typical commercial applications (office buildings, educational facilities, etc.). These can be specified as generic parameterised models, as opposed to medium and large industrial and non-domestic applications. Our decarbonisation framework will also include cooling, which is anticipated to increase due to climate change-caused global warming (since 1884, all of the UK's ten warmest years occurred in years from 2002), but also due to provision of automatic or user-set temperature regulation by reversible heat pumps.
Furthermore, as the net-zero transition through electrification of heating requires electrical-thermal solutions to be better in all aspects than the currently predominant natural gas infrastructure for heating, we will use electrification of heating as a "reference case" for comparative evaluation and ranking of other considered decarbonisation routes.
Arguably, the highest potential for the provision of flexibility and balancing services is through increased customer participation in energy management and coordinated shifting of energy demands in the UK's 27 million homes and 1.4 million SMEs. However, to ensure wider customer engagement and to increase their willingness to take part in various demand-side management (DSM) schemes, they should be able to access appropriate energy exchange and energy trading services for their voluntary or interest-based participation.
DISPATCH approaches the above challenges as actual opportunities for exploring synergies, interoperabilities and the overall integration potential of different energy vectors, in order to identify the most cost-effective solutions for reshaping and redistributing energy flows. For example, we will repurpose balancing and demand shifting controls used in normal operating conditions as low-cost resources for automated frequency response in emergency conditions, and compare its benefits with recently introduced procurement of stability as an ancillary service by NGESO.
Organisations
- University of Edinburgh (Lead Research Organisation)
- Sunamp Ltd (Collaboration)
- BOXERGY LTD (Collaboration)
- Heriot-Watt University (Project Partner)
- Sunamp (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL (Project Partner)
- SP Energy Networks (Project Partner)
- Blackwood (Project Partner)
- Boxergy Limited (Project Partner)
- European Marine Energy Centre (Project Partner)
- Electric Vehicle Association Scotland (Project Partner)
Publications
Andrade I
(2022)
Application of the InTIME Methodology for the Transition of Office Buildings to Low Carbon-A Case Study
in Sustainability
Capper T
(2022)
Peer-to-peer, community self-consumption, and transactive energy: A systematic literature review of local energy market models
in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Couraud B
(2023)
Collecting French Smart Meter Data for Residential Flexibility
Couraud B
(2023)
Responsive FLEXibility: A smart local energy system
in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Cremers S
(2023)
Efficient methods for approximating the Shapley value for asset sharing in energy communities
in Applied Energy
Kirli D
(2022)
Smart contracts in energy systems: A systematic review of fundamental approaches and implementations
in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Krumdieck S
(2022)
Green Chemistry - Advances in Alternative Energy
Parzen M
(2023)
PyPSA-Earth. A new global open energy system optimization model demonstrated in Africa
in Applied Energy
Parzen M
(2023)
Reducing energy system model distortions from unintended storage cycling through variable costs.
in iScience
Pullinger M
(2024)
Capturing variation in daily energy demand profiles over time with cluster analysis in British homes (September 2019 - August 2022)
in Applied Energy
Salgado-Bravo M
(2023)
Demand-side energy flexibility estimation for day-ahead models
in Applied Energy
Zakaria A
(2023)
Hosting capacity of distribution networks for controlled and uncontrolled residential EV charging with static and dynamic thermal ratings of network components
in IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution
Zhang Y
(2024)
Modelling the formation of peer-to-peer trading coalitions and prosumer participation incentives in transactive energy communities
in Applied Energy
Description | PG course on Sustainable Energy Consumption |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Title | Transition Engineering Lab Process |
Description | Transition Engineering Lab Process describes a sequential application of Transition Engineering methods and tools. The first stage is the Start-Up Stage. The first step is identifying and characterising the whole Activity Ecosystem around the pressure for change in a market mechanism, regulation or business model, and to establish a stakeholder and partner Cadre for the lab. The next step is to carry out the Wicked Problem Exercise with the cadre and with public input in order to create a collective of local knowledge and get to the heart of the wicked problem re-cast as an essential need. The next step is to use the centred problem definition as the design basis for a bespoke, agile Data Exchange that will be shaped and constructed for the lab, but also for the use in the transition developments beyond the lab. The Mission for the lab is taken into the Innovation Stage, which consists of several workshops with the Cadre and the wider stakeholders and work packages through the Interdisciplinary Transition Innovation, Management and Engineering (InTIME) Design. The InTIME Design work requires the data from the exchange and requisitioned Modellization for each of the seven steps of the InTIME Design process. The result of the InTIME Design work is at least one Shift Project Proposal which will achieve the Mission. The final step in the Innovation Stage is a public Stakeholder Jury where Validation of the Shift Project will be determined by a jury from the general public though a courtroom process or Ting. If not validated, the InTIME Design process will be repeated and refined. If Validation is given, then the Shift Project proceeds to the the Demonstration and Testing Stage. An Observatory for performance data, consequences and outcomes is designed and developed for the activity ecosystem and will be used by the Transition Engineering team, the cadre and stakeholders to understand the impact and forward implications of the shift. The results of the demonstration stage will again be evaluated and the proposition for acceleration and scale-up will be put to a Stakeholder public jury or Ting. The Nominal and Real Value creation as a function of return on inputs and shifts will be reported to the Community, Governance and Enterprise, and the commercial embodiment of the Shift Project will be supported through acceleration and implementation. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The Transition Engineering Lab Process was first designed, developed and used in the research context in a project in 2022 with a local primary school. The impact from that Lab was the Shift Project of "Net Zero School Run" teacher training and classroom activities package. The demonstration and testing results showed that the values derived from the £3000 investment were high value education outcomes, teacher satisfaction, community building, downshift of automobile drop off to 20% of trips, savings of £150,000 in the community, positive media coverage and community interest, and a package that is deliverable as an education activity, funded by Sustrans active school funding adn congestion reduction for all schools in the UK. |
URL | https://www.aemslab.org.nz/transition_engineering_labs |
Title | WP2 - Orkney Online & Interactive EPC Map |
Description | Geospatial dataset created and curated by PhD Student, Meng Wu. After collection, cleaning and processing of available EPC data for Orkney households from Scottish Government sources, data for individual dwellings has been associated with their geospatial location to be visualized in an interactive map. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The model developed has been used collaboratively with WP3, with particular relevance to fuel poverty reduction oriented research. |
URL | http://18.168.149.211/ |
Title | WP2 - SSEN ANM Data |
Description | The Orkney electrical distribution grid has inter-zonal constraints that are monitored by an ANM (Active Network Management) system. Live information on the system status is available on SSEN's website, but with no means to access to historical records https://www.ssen.co.uk/our-services/active-network-management/orkney-anm/ A data collection system has been developed in collaboration with a data engineer to collect historical data from the website in a curated database. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The historical data from the ANM scheme is being used in collaboration with WP3 and WP4 users to build a network model for the Orkney grid, with particular relevance for research on fuel poverty reduction. |
Title | WP2 - SSEN Orkney Network data |
Description | SSEN has an online webportal displaying geospatial and technical information about the grid assets installed in Orkney https://new-connections.ssen.co.uk/ Liaising with SSEN, shapefile data from the network has been obtained, completed and integrated through consultations with local experts and technicians. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The developed dataset is currently being used in collaboration with WP3 to develop a modelling grid study for the assessment of network constraints and strategies for their alleviation, with particular relevance to ongoing research on fuel poverty reduction. |
Title | WP2 - forward asset planning model for GB power system |
Description | The tool allows yearly modelling of the power system technical, economic and environmental performance starting from a reference year. The model is being revised and extended to Great Britain in collaboration with the Center for Academic Collaboration Initiatives (centeraci.com) that originally developed it for use in New England, USA. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The model is functional for WP2 as it allows (i) to study how the current system works; i.e. the interaction of technical, economic and regulatory factors in determining price for final users (ii) to perform the "crash testing", according to the InTIME method, of possible decarbonization pathways |
Title | WP3 HiSim Models |
Description | Using the open-source household infrastructure simulator HiSim, the heating demand of 4 main housing archetypes in the UK were modelled. In addition, new functionality was developed that included different occupant type such as adult working from home, etc. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The developed models are currently used in WP3 but sparked collaboration with other work packages and it is anticipated that they will become useful to other researchers on DISPATCH and other projects. |
URL | https://github.com/DISPATCH-project/HISIM-DISPATCH |
Description | Collaboration with Boxergy |
Organisation | Boxergy Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The low-carbon technologies used by Boxergy - heat pumps, batteries and solar panels, can be used to shift electricity use to times when there is less demand so it is cheaper and typically produces fewer emissions. Our contribution so far is evaluating the potential savings using these technologies. We have produced preliminary findings in a student dissertation and expect to extend and refine these in future. |
Collaborator Contribution | Boxergy have provided expertise in modelling the use of these technologies. We expect in future they will provide relevant data for more analyses |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Collaboration with Sunamp |
Organisation | Sunamp Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The heat-storage technologies developed and marketed by Sunamp can be used as an alternative to electric batteries for grid balancing where the desired end -use energy form is low-temperature heat such as that used in homes. Our contribution so far is evaluating the potential savings using these technologies. We have produced preliminary findings in a student dissertation and expect to extend and refine these in future. |
Collaborator Contribution | Sunamp have provided expertise in the area of heat-storage and its potential use in this scenario. We expect in the coming year Sunamp will provide new data to progress this work. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Annual Conference of the EPSRC Network+ Decarbonisation of Heating and Cooling |
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 | This event was Decarbonising Heating and Cooling Annual Conference, held on 19th and 20th September 2023 at Institute of Physics in London. The PI attended and presented DISPATCH project, together with some results and outputs of the work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://net-zero-research.co.uk/network-hc/ |
Description | DISPATCH and INTEGRATE meeting |
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 | We organised a meeting with the researchers on the EPSRC INTEGRATE Project which included presentation of modelling methodologies and datasets and discussion on future collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | DSO - Energy Community Interactions |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting with DNO representatives from Northern Power Grid. Discussion on future role of DSO for energy communities and flexibility markets. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Decarbonisation of Heat: How smart local energy systems can contribute |
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 | This event was organised by EnergyREV in response to the UK Government's Heat and Buildings Strategy. During the discussion section, the aims of the project were presented to increase awareness of the project in the academic community working on decarbonisation of heating. There were requests for further information after the session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decarbonisation-of-heat-how-smart-local-energy-systems-can-contribute... |
Description | Energy, Mini-Grid and Communities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited Presentation at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 15 Dec 2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Essential Energy for Residential Wellbeing |
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 | Networking Event Held on 26 October 2023 in Orkney with 36 Stakeholders in Attendance: Difficulties in operating power supply system in Orkney discussed, in particular high costs of energy and significant curtailment of renewable wind energy. Preliminary work on further engagement agreed with some attendants. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Global Observatory on Peer-to-Peer, Community Self-Consumption and Transactive Energy Models |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Member of working group of Global Observatory on Peer-to-Peer, Community Self-Consumption and Transactive Energy Models. The ongoing partnership has led to 2 publications in in peer reviewed journals and other works currently under submission. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
URL | https://userstcp.org/task/peer-to-peer-energy-trading/ |
Description | IDLES Conference 2022: Decarbonising the UK Energy System |
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 IDLES Conference brought together academics, researchers, industry representatives and policymakers to discuss developments in energy decarbonisation strategies based on whole systems analysis. The conference led to discussions and knowledge exchange with energy system modelers from Imperial College London. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/154498/idles-conference-2022-decarbonising-the-uk-energy-system/ |
Description | Interview on local radio station about Transition labs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Prof. Susan Krumdieck has been interviewed in the "Energy Islands" show on BBC Radio Orkney. It was an occasion to familiarize locals with the Transition Engineering Lab Process, a novel action research method, and spread interest and awareness about upcoming public events. The Transition Lab methodology is being trialled on the "access to housing" and "school run" initiatives. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001k03g |
Description | Invited talk - Data Science for Sustainability |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Desen Kirli was invited to speak at the "Data Science 4 Sustainable Development: Workshop" organised by the School of Informatics. The workshop brought together researchers and students from a range of disciplines and focused on the application and applicability of Data Science tools and practices in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It facilitated fruitful discussions among the academic community and resulted in shareing of data, methods and knowledge from the DISPATCH Project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/data-science-4-sustainable-development-workshop-tickets-514299923917?... |
Description | Islands Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ) Open Day |
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 | One of the CO-I's in DISPATCH (Prof. Krumdieck) led panel discussion on electrification of heat energy in industry. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Modelling for Energy Supply Systems |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This Workshop was held on the 17th of August 2023 with with P. McCallum. It was organised by Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, with MS Teams remote connections. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Multiscale Design for System-wide Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading |
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 | An event organised as a part of the Frontiers Champions Programme supported by Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). It resulted in exchange of ideas and research methods with plans to collaborate in the future. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Northern Power Grid Community |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This event was Webinar organised on 4th May 2023 (Zoom) with regional DSO and University of Glasgow contribution. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Sixth Meeting of the Global Observatory on Peer-to-Peer, Community Self-Consumption and Transactive Energy Models (GO-P2P) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Hybrid event organised by the Energy Coalition and Global Observatory on P2P energy trading. Title of invite only event was "Achieving Equitable Decarbonisation in California: What we can learn from international stakeholders". Event aimed to bring together researchers and industry players responsible for energy community and transactive energy pilot projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://userstcp.org/task/peer-to-peer-energy-trading/ |
Description | Transition engineering lab facebook page and videos |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A facebook page has been created as a reference for stakeholders involved in the Transition Engineering Lab Process for access to housing in Orkney. The intent is to have dissemination materials easily accessible by all the actors involved, and explain the Wicked Problem definition and InTIME methodology principles. The materials are open and accessible to the general public, and will remain a reference for future Transition labs |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.facebook.com/people/Transition-Engineering-Lab/100090398882841/ |
Description | Webinar - IEEE Smart Grid Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Desen Kirli and Benoit Couraud from DISPATCH presented an international webinar on smart contracting in energy systems alongside Valentin Robu (TU Delft, CWI). Over 150 international participants joined the webinar and it was followed by a question and answer session which increased the interest in this area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://smartgrid.ieee.org/resources/webinars/foundational-support-systems/smart-contracts-in-energy... |
Description | Workshop on Social Acceptability, Fuel Poverty and Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This Workshop was organised in Glasgow on the 24th of October 2023 (organised and hosted by the University of Glasgow), with contributions from Matt Cole and Bridget Vessels |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |