The “Stakeholder interactive City Energy Demand Simulator” (SiCEDS) will be a vital tool for cities that will help them to optimise their energy infrastructure through a collaborative assessment of options. It will deliver a comprehensive understanding of the shape and scale of energy demand in the future - including an analysis of the implications of the time value of energy. SiCEDS will:
• Provide dynamic insights into the impacts on the shape and scale of demand of different levels of support for
new energy technologies in buildings, ranging from insulation to heat pumps
• Create a clear visualisation (through the display of data in map formats) of the impacts of alternative energy
efficiency support strategies on fuel poverty
• Allow the investigation of the economic, energy, and environmental impacts of moving to a more local
architecture of energy supply within city/community boundaries
Our approach enables city stakeholders to collaborate and create scenario plans for energy projects so that approved schemes best meet each city’s unique visions and objectives through SiCEDS. The model will deliver effective information to decision makers, who can test scenarios and model solutions, in order to deliver the most effective city solution, from domestic retrofit schemes to district heating networks.
A fundamental learning from our engagement with cities in the SiCEDS feasibility study was that the model must be able to operate in a ‘collaboration’ mode whereby all stakeholders are able to use the model together to test and fine-tune policy and investment solutions. This willbe made possible through stakeholder engagement sessions using an intuitive and clear graphical user interface. This will better facilitate consensus building around strategic energy infrastructure investments.
SiCEDS itself is an agent-based model which will enable the holistic design of a city’s future energy architecture. It will contain a full data management system to overlay nationally available datasets and those the Energy Saving Trust and UCLs Energy Institute can provide with locally available data. The model contains a series of calculation modules and configured assumptions which address fuel poverty, emissions, energy costs, capital and operating costs, job creation, and health impacts. This connects to the SiCEDS visualisation user interface which offers a series of lenses to deliver appropriate access and functions to stakeholders including planners, city leaders, investors, developers and citizens so each can evaluate alternative options from their own perspective.
SiCEDS will enable cities to develop a strong ‘pipeline’ of energy infrastructure projects that are investable, have consensus agreement and stakeholders in place to deliver. SiCEDS will help to build capacity and human capital enabling city authorities to efficiently unlock potential and make possible localised energy systems that achieve greater levels of energy autonomy, deliver economic activity, and generate societal benefits to help achieve strategic city objectives.