Power to the People: CFCL Joins Britain's Broadest Smart Grid Study to Date

Ceramic Fuel Cells, Ltd. (CFCL), the developer of BlueGen technology, announced on May 6 that it would participate in Britain's broadest-scale smart-grid trial to date—which will cost about $100 million over a three-year period, and involve 14,000 homes and businesses in the North East and Yorkshire.

CFCL has joined the leader of the initiative, CE Electric UK, and its partners—British Gas, EA Technology Group, and Durham University—in a study that will explore ways in which British households and businesses can shrink their carbon footprints, reduce energy usage, and save money.  The group will test smart grid solutions on the higher-voltage networks within the electricity grid, as well as in meaningfully sized clusters of smart-enabled homes. The results will help ensure that the networks can handle the mass introduction of solar panels, electric cars, and other green technology.

If the project accelerates the introduction of low-carbon technologies by just one year, it could save Britain around $12 billion in energy costs and 43 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, according to estimates by Durham University’s Energy Institute.

Dubbed “The Customer-Led Network Revolution (News - Alert),” the smart-grid trial has attracted a $50 million contribution from Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator, which has enabled the study to get the go-ahead this year. 

Phil Jones, president and CEO of CE Electric UK, which provides power to the region in which the study is being done, commented, “This is an exciting partnership of low-carbon thought leaders in the energy sector.  As for CE Electric UK, we have helped spearhead the integration of local generation onto the grid for a number of years, and British Gas has led the way in adopting and embracing the new technology of smart meters for its customers.  This combination of expertise and technology will offer real opportunities and choices to customers in the way they use their energy.”

Durham University will play a dual role in the project by providing energy research, via the Durham Energy Institute, and as a participant in the planned trials.

In addition to placing smart meters in 14,000 households and businesses, the trial calls for the installation  of  about 800 solar PV panels, 150 electric cars,  and up to 1,500 either ground-source or air-source heat pumps.  Some homes also will receive combined heat and power boilers, which create renewable electricity while they heat the home.

The  BlueGen modular, gas-powered generator for distributed electricity generation —provided by Melbourne, Australia-based  Ceramic Fuel Cells, Ltd.—will be housed in the Durham Energy Institute research laboratory, running alongside other low-carbon electricity generating technologies. BlueGen produces power that can be used: within the home (with the surplus fed back into the national grid); in supplementary applications, such as charging an electric car; as well as to provide heat for domestic hot water use.

Paddy Thompson, general manager of Business Development at CFCL, commented, “The integration of BlueGen into the Smart Grid project will prove that the technology needed to create a low-emission, highly efficient power grid for the future exists today.”

Professor Phil Taylor, Durham Energy Institute, said: “I am proud that we have the opportunity to bring the wide range of disciplines available at the Energy Institute to bear on practical issues involving real customers.”  

He continued, “New problems require new solutions, and the combination of cutting-edge research with the ability to work with leading industry partners gives us the best chance of delivering real value to customers.”