The Ecoisland Partnership is a community interest company (CIC) set up to establish the Isle of Wight as the first “truly sustainable” region in Britain. A key aim is to attain energy self sufficiency by 2020.
Since its launch in April 2011, the company has secured relationships with 65 business partners, including technology giants IBM, Toshiba and Cable & Wireless, to develop a “greenprint” for the island, encompassing energy, waste, water, transport and the green economy.
On the energy side, the project will see the creation of a virtual power plant integrating renewable generation with demand-side resources to create an energy balancing system. “Ecoisland aims to be at the forefront of the revolution in demand-side management and energy balancing that our uncertain energy future will require,” explains Ecoisland’s founder and chief executive, David Green.
SSE has been a dedicated backer of Ecoisland from the beginning and is now its national energy partner. “We believe that in years to come communities across the length and breadth of the UK will be striving to achieve sustainability, looking at the achievements of Ecoisland for inspiration,” says Charles Farley, national development director at SSE.
Last week, the Isle of Wight hosted a summit attended by community leaders, representatives from more than 20 islands, sustainability experts, government ministers and technology giants. They went to learn from the foundations being laid on the island and to make their own public commitments by signing the Ecoislands Accord.
Since entering into the partnership, SSE has supported, funded and initiated a number of projects. In one interesting example, the company is working with other Ecoisland partners to develop a smart grid infrastructure that will monitor and manage individual and group customer demand on the island.
A community energy programme was also launched in August 2012, under which SSE progressively discounts monthly bills the more accounts it acquires (or offers the option of donating the money to the Ecoisland CIC instead). In addition, SSE will pay “threshold bonuses” to Ecoisland based on the number of customer accounts that join the programme. “These monies will directly benefit the Isle of Wight by funding Ecoisland projects,” says Farley.
Other planned initiatives include the establishment of ten electric vehicle charging points, which will be funded and installed at various locations around the island. SSE is also a partner to ITM-Power and Ecoisland CIC in a two-year commercial hydrogen trial on the Isle of Wight, match funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). SSE’s involvement in the project will be to jointly fund, alongside the TSB, four hydrogen vehicles and provide the grid connection for a hydrogen refuelling station at St Cross Business Park in Newport.
“As our local distribution network operator and primary supplier on the Island, SSE has a major part to play in the future energy landscape of the Isle of Wight,” says Joni Rhodes, Ecoisland operations manager. “We have been delighted by their high level of support – they joined us as a national partner in the early stages of the project last year and have been one of our most active partners to date involved in community engagement and technical planning.”
Farley explains that plans are also well advanced for the development of an in-home energy management system for island residents that will enable people to control their energy use remotely using a smart phone or computer.
“Longer term, Ecoisland hopes to generate enough renewable energy on the island that the surplus can be sold back to SSE, further reducing bills for those signed up to community energy,” he says. Rhodes notes: “Over the next few years the combination of installed capacity, smart grid and demand-side management will see the island self-sustainable in energy and in a position to sell back to the grid.”
Andrew Williams is a freelance journalist
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 26th October 2012.
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