An automated demand-side response (DSR) system is to be trialled at a school in Somerset after the pilot scheme was awarded £1 million by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The iDSR system will track users’ energy consumption patterns and utilise machine-learning to establish their preferences. The project is being undertaken by GridIMP in partnership with EDF Energy.
GridIMP’s parent company, Totem Sustainable Solutions, was one of six applicants to secure funding for a feasibility study in the first round of a competition for non-domestic DSR demonstration projects. The competition is part of Innovate UK’s energy catalyst initiative.
Totem has now become one of two to be awarded second-round funding to proceed with a pilot – the other being Flexitricity.
The technology will be trialled at the Wells Cathedral School over a period of two years before being offered commercially to businesses starting in 2020.
GridIMP said the system will allow users to help balance the power grid without any interaction or change in behaviour.
“Our objective with our technical approach is to enhance not only the expediency and automation of demand-side response and the grid balancing challenge, but also to create a paradigm shift in the way that we understand consumer energy use,” said GridIMP technical director Ed Ross.
“Both of these elements are clear market opportunities that GridIMP will address as the UK looks to solve its demand-side grid challenges.”