Guru Verify: real-time, cloud-based, machine-learning commissioning tools to radically improve performance of heat networks

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£1,407,335

Feb. 1, 2019

Jan. 31, 2020

Heat networks connect heat sources (such as combined heat and power plants, geothermal or industrial waste heat) with homes and businesses through a network of insulated pipes carrying hot water. They are a well-established technology in Europe and, while they only provide 2% of the overall UK heat demand, it is estimated that this could rise to 43% by 2050.1

Achieving this growth is an essential part of decarbonising the UK's building stock, which is a key target in the 2017 Clean Growth Strategy and a legal requirement under the Climate Change Act.

Almost half the final energy consumed in the UK is used as heat. It is estimated that heat networks can reduce carbon emissions by up to 42% for domestic dwellings, and provide an overall reduction of 5.7 MtCO2 from all buildings by 2030\.

Alongside carbon savings, heat networks also help combat fuel poverty, with customers paying on average £100 p.a. less than those using individual gas boilers; contribute to the UK's energy security by reducing the need to import gas; and, provide an important source of local job creation, among other benefits.

However, even where networks are well-designed, they are rarely commissioned properly, resulting in high heat loss, increased fuel use, increased costs for both the network operator and final consumer, and extremely poor customer experience.

Current commissioning practices are poor as doing it properly is expensive and time consuming, and as contractors are not incentivised to invest the required resources it is not undertaken uniformly across new networks - ESCOs might manually sample 10% of dwellings before adoption, allowing un-commissioned networks into operation.

The Guru Verify project is designed to improve the commissioning process by providing a data-driven commissioning tool that allows contractors and network operators to quickly and cheaply verify performance in real-time on 100% of end customers on a network.

The project builds on Guru System's previous work with SBRI, their existing real-time data analysis, and Fairheat's extensive experience delivering commissioning services on site, to develop a commissioning methodology, site tools and cloud-based software to make 100% verification simple and cheap for low-skilled technicians.

Our real-world results on the SBRI project showed that proper commissioning alone can reduce heat losses on networks by nearly 70%. When combined with proper design, improved commissioning is projected to result in £200m in savings over 10 years.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/7m-boost-to-heat-industry-innovation