"The United Kingdom has made significant progress towards achieving its commitments under the Climate Change Act to reduce CO2 emissions to 80% of 1990 levels, particularly in the areas of de-carbonising the electricity grid and in the uptake and planning to substantially shift to electric vehicles for short domestic journeys. However, historically the various constituent vectors of our energy system (i.e. electricity, heat, transport) have been operated as independent functions with limited interactions and integration. To make the next key step in our transition to a decarbonised energy system we need to move forward from viewing these vectors in isolation to create a dynamically balanced and flexible low carbon energy system. Enabling a whole systems approach to local energy systems will provide new services and value streams, further driving direct benefits to the UK and enabling developments in the areas of system control, software development and aggregation services, establishing the UK as the world leader in this field.

Levenmouth has been chosen as the initial test bed for the design study of a vector integration platform (VIP) to be designed through this project. Levenmouth has a diverse range of assets including a hydrogen microgrid, a deployed fleet of electric and hydrogen vehicles, a 7MW offshore wind turbine, an industry CHP plant and heat network. Due to the local demographic, significant levels of fuel poverty and low social mobility, the direct benefits of operating a smart local energy system will be tangibly realised.

This project will develop the technical software specification for a VIP with the capabilities to control supply and demand assets across multiple energy vectors under a variety of different regulatory and market arrangements whilst returning a profit margin for both the owners and end users. Through working closely with the utility companies, local energy network owners and regulators, the VIP developed will provide a test bed for hardware testing and modelling policy on a local level with a significant focus attributed to testing public opinion and reaction to a de-carbonised energy system. Interactions with national models will be facilitated for accurate forecasting of multi-vector outcomes and to enable roll out of an evolved VIP across the UK and for exporting internationally."