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IGEM NEWS | Young Persons Paper Competition 2018

from one-bed flats to five-bed detached
domestic properties and small local FIGURE 4 Survey cards for customer FIGURE 5 Example of a weather
shops, to universities for commercial participation in the consumer gas demand installation at SGN’s Snodland PRS site
properties, plus other datasets such as logging process
socio-economic data, historical annual
gas usage and GIS data, have allowed
for a reassessment of property
categorisation. Within the new
categories, the fundamentals behind
consumer usage are being rewritten –
with the demand constantly being
trained as data is received.
For domestic consumers, the
participation in the project worked on
an ‘opt-in’ basis through a customer
engagement plan sanctioned by Ofgem.
Willing participants could sign up to FIGURE 6 Selection of downstream renewable technologies testing at Kiwa Gastech’s
take part through an online survey, laboratory in Cheltenham
phone or pre-franked survey postcard.
GAS FIRED COMBI AIR SOURCE HEAT MICRO COMBINED
BOILER (reference) PUMP HEAT AND POWER
Weather stations
To understand the impact of variances
GAS FIRED AIR
HYBRID HEAT
on consumer demand caused by SOURCE HEAT PUMP PUMP/BOILER
changes in weather on a local level,
five weather stations were installed at
SGN’s PRS sites across the trial zone.
The installations, also connected to the FIGURE 7 Real-Time Networks field trial data flow management
cloud, can identify changes in wind
speed, wind direction, temperature and
humidity. These variations allow for
dynamic in-day demand forecasting.

Downstream renewables
To ensure the network can
accommodate substantial changes in
appliance behaviour, the project has
researched the potential for
downstream renewable technologies,
including hybrid systems. Five different
technologies (see Figure 6) were
selected based on their likelihood of
roll-out and potential network impact.
These systems have been tested in
Kiwa Gastech’s laboratory on a
dynamic test rig, which is able to
simulate differing property sizes and
consumer usage behaviours. Over
2,000 hours of testing have produced
a valuable insight into the potential
impact on the gas and electricity grids CONCLUSION importantly paves the way for greater
and overall emissions outputs. Although the tangible, short-term integration of energy vectors.
benefits associated with developing By modelling energy delivery, an
Cloud system the real-time system justify this key effective ‘common currency’ with the
The dedicated cloud system, industry research alone, the process electricity grid is demonstrated, which
procured for the project, has allowed of collecting, processing and analysing could ultimately support the
for the efficient management of unprecedented amounts of data on reduction of energy peaks for both
quantities of data never before seen gas network performance holds the grids. The energy peaks for both gas
by the gas network. key to future flexibility. and electricity represent the greatest
The system has supported the The level of agility that this affords opportunity when looking to address
development of an advanced software the network not only allows an the energy trilemma in terms of
platform that in the future will be understanding of how future network efficiency, cost and environmental
able to accommodate more datasets, constraints can be managed and how impact. The scale of opportunity
whether from smart metering, further lower carbon, more affordable ensures Real-Time Networks has a key
sensor installs or through greater sources of gas can be accommodated role to play in the future of the GB
integration with the electricity grid. into the network, but most energy sector. ■

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