Intelligent Bridgend Energy System Designs

"Decentralisation of heat, power and energy generation to areas of local usage provides the opportunity for more efficient use of resources (both energy and network infrastructure) -- if the needs of the different vectors are balanced against one another. Bridgend County Borough provides a replicable use case for developing a concept of balancing local energy generation with local energy needs across both urban and rural environments.

The county is embracing decentralisation of energy generation, with substantial existing and planned assets across the three energy vectors; heat, power and transport. Including:

* Parc Stormy Energy Park (PSEP), with a solar farm, wind development, AD CHP plant, battery storage facility, EV charging points and plans to develop into a renewable energy transport hub and business enterprise park
* The Council's plans to encourage decarbonisation of heating provision, including the initiation of two district heating networks in separate locations of the county in 2019 and 2020, to be integrated with local electricity generation from wind and solar and additional EV charging infrastructure to provide satellite transport hubs.

The project will explore the opportunity to integrate heat, power and mobility through the creation of a digital platform; monitoring and predicting energy demand and generation, and provision of low carbon transport micro-hubs within the heat network schemes to support a central hub at PSEP.

It is envisaged that this digitisation and integration of energy vectors will give rise to the following benefits:

* Reduced costs, for:
* The energy system, through efficient use of existing infrastructure
* Consumers, from development of local energy markets and service plans
* Energy suppliers, by enabling access to the flexibility services market
* Transport providers through bus fleets optimisation and management
* New Consumer Offerings:
* Heat service plans, selling comfort rather than kilowatt-hours of energy and offering stability of costs and health and well-being improvements
* Mobility service plans, selling access to a range of different sustainable transport options to suit an individual's needs
* A more reliable and transparent transport service, with digital applications enabling users to access real-time information about service provision and journey times.
* Improved Environment, through
* Lower carbon energy provision across all energy vectors, reducing air pollution and contributing to carbon targets
* Local Resilience
* Through local energy resource use and economic growth stimulus via new business opportunities, associated with low carbon USP credentials and supply chain opportunities."