Project studies feasibility of decarbonised energy with CHP

ENER-G and industry partners Advanced Digital Institute, Flexitricity, Smarter Grid Solutions and UK Power Networks, have secured £100,000 of match funding from the Technology Strategy Board towards exploring the development of next-generation Virtual Power Plants.

According to a statement, this involves using clusters of combined heat and power (CHP) systems to bolster supply, particularly to meet peaks in demand.

The project will investigate the feasibility of using networks of small ENER-G CHP generators, which are said to have the flexibility and high-energy efficiency to provide reinforcement of supply to the local network.

This Virtual Power Plant system requires complex software and a central control system to ensure that it reacts immediately to local supply-and-demand requirements.

By including a large number of smaller-scale CHP generators and associated loads into a Virtual Power Plant, the aim is to achieve improved flexibility and greater load-balancing potential to reduce stress on the network.

The project will perform business and technical modelling based on data from UK Power Networks’ London electricity network, using ENER-G CHP systems to relieve the peaks in demand.