A Microgrid for Ashton Hayes?

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A Microgrid for Ashton Hayes?

• The Feasibility Study
• Village Meeting 16th July 2008

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Project Team

• Roy Alexander (University of Chester)
• Mary Gillie (EA Technology)
• Garry Charnock (Ashton Hayes PC GCN sub-Cttee)
• Jen Carter (EA Technology)
• Tamara Hunt (University of Chester)
• Shane OHara (University of Loughborough)

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Preamble

• The Going Carbon Neutral project has now been
  running for two and a half years
• This years survey indicates that we have
  achieved a 21 reduction in our domestic carbon
  footprint
• To help reduce this further we need to examine
  all possible options - the Microgrid Feasibility
  study represents one of these.

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The Concept

• Using renewable energy locally
• Raising awareness of energy and its use
• Developing innovative use of technology - Ashton
  Hayes is leading the way with this feasibility
  study
• Getting renewable energy onto the network more
  cheaply Get the DNO involved (who look after
  the wires)
• Saving money

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What makes a microgrid?

• Local renewable generation match demand and
  generation
• Trade energy locally save money
• On a defined piece of network (both electrically
  and geographically)
• Could involve storage
• Could attempt to improve quality of supply

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Whos Paying?

• Carbon Connections, an investment body based at
  the University of East Anglia, has invested
  86,500 in our project.
• We are one of only 27 projects funded from 107
  that applied for funding.

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Benefits to the village

• This feasibility project aims to develop a model
  for a rural microgrid using Ashton Hayes as a
  test-bed.
• Although we will be developing a general model,
  applicable to villages anywhere, Ashton Hayes
  will be provided with a bespoke set of options
  that can be exploited if the community wishes to
  do so.
• The project will only provide the blueprint. It
  will be up to the village to decide whether it
  gets developed.

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Whos involved

• The project is led by the University of Chester
• Technical and business expertise are provided by
  EA Technology Ltd
• Ashton Hayes Parish Councils Going Carbon
  Neutral sub-Committee facilitates liaison within
  the village.

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What are we doing?

• There are three parts to the project
• Technical Work
• Financial and Operational Models
• Community Involvement

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Technical work

• This involves three objectives
• Assess the potential renewable energy supply
• Assess the demand profile
• Match up supply and demand

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Assessing Renewable Resources

• Possibility of a larger wind farm
• Biomass boiler or CHP for the school rather than
  gas
• Bio-oil (old chip fat!), Pellets?
• CHP with a summer heat store (so we can use the
  power in the summer).
• Sewage and compost anaerobic digester from the
  ideas from United Utilities (some of you visited
  Ellesmere Port).

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Assessing renewable resources

• We will be monitoring wind speed and solar energy
  at two sites.
• The sites have been identified and agreed with
  the owners and we are currently seeking planning
  permission to erect the temporary masts with
  meteorological instruments.

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Weather Station Sites
Site for Weather Station
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Renewable resources

• Surveying the buildings on Church Road and Church
  Court for good sites for photovoltaics.
• Assessing suitable wind turbines for the two
  potential sites.
• Investigating sources of biomass from Delamere,
  Woodland Trust or Ruthin.

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Looking at lots of possibilities to put into the
pot of options

• Nothing will be imposed
• It is up to YOU

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Demand Profile

• Monitoring the total use of power on Church Road
  and Court
• This is so we know how much power is used and
  when
• Monitoring some individual houses so that we can
  understand the variation in how people use power.

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Early Results from the School
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Early Results from Dunns Lane
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Early Results from a Wattson
Power usage (Watts) from Roys house yesterday
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Early Results from a Wattson
Holmes display page - yesterdays electricity at
Roys house in Carbon costs
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Metering

• We will need to measure when buildings are using
  and generating power.
• We hope to have some new meters to try out in the
  next few months.
• They will tell you when and how much your power
  costs and can be read remotely.
• We hope to have a system that will automatically
  switch appliances on and off to use local
  renewable power e.g. to use the dishwasher when
  the wind is blowing.

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Connections

• We are investigating new/cheaper ways of
  connecting more generation to the local wires.
• Ashton Hayes could be the first to use this
  technology.

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Ownership and management 1

• Proposal A Community-managed organisation (ESCo)
  that will own the generators and manage the
  electricity supply they generate.
• Goals of the ESCo
• simple,
• workable,
• inclusive,
• not something that will fizzle out in a week!

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People Involved with the ESCo (example)
Ownership of the ESCo should reflect the
Community interests and this should be reflected
in the people that run the ESCo day-to-day.
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Ownership and management 2

• Some properties will be more suitable than others
  for locating the generators.
• To ensure its fair, the generators and the
  electricity produced will belong to the ESCo.
• Hosting an asset will be like having a telegraph
  pole on your land.
• Contract between you and the ESCo.
• Payment of an annual sum to cover inconvenience.
• Responsibility to liaise with the ESCo re. access
  for maintenance.

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What happens to the Electricity?

• The Electricity produced will then be sold by the
  ESCo to opted-in properties in the Church Lane
  area.
• The ESCo will be responsible for deciding how the
  Community generated electricity should be
  allocated.
• The Community Electricity will NOT be free.
• ESCo will need to cover ongoing costs and
  overheads e.g. maintenance, operational costs,
  pay-back funding.
• Any shortfall will be supplied by a licensed
  supplier
• the lights wont be going off!

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Opt In or Opt Out

• What does Opt In/Out mean?
• Opt in doesnt mean disconnection from supplier
• Opt out is always available

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Community Involvement

• In order to investigate how these options might
  work we need an input from you.
• We would like to recruit volunteers to three
  focus groups
• 1. To consider sources of funding for
  implementation.
• 2. To consider ownership and running of an ESCO.
  This would include allocation of power, ownership
  of equipment, pricing, income streams.
• 3. To consider the technical options for
  generation and metering.

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Focus Groups

• We would like to be able to call these together
  at two or three monthly intervals in order to
  present proposals which the groups will discuss
  and evaluate so that we can feed this information
  back into our development work in order to refine
  the models

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Contact Details

• Roy Alexander 01244 513171 r.alexander_at_chester.ac
  .uk
• Jen Carter 0151 347 2449
• jen.carter_at_eatechnology.com
• Mary Gillie 0151 347 2342 mary.gillie_at_eatechnolog
  y.com