Commercial buildings have high energy demands predicted to increase through further electrification as they move towards decarbonisation. Power Block had the overall aim to develop a new flexibility product tailored for commercial buildings that would provide Distribution System Operators (DSOs) with access to this source of flexibility to reduce the need for network upgrades.
What is the project about?
Power Block’s Discovery Phase aim was to understand the reasons behind the historically low levels of flexibility being provided to DSOs by commercial buildings. The project set out to understand how to encourage further participation in flexibility by this group.
Power Block addressed SIF Discovery Round 2 Innovation Challenge 2 “Preparing for a Net Zero power system” with the project scope of “accessing grid/system support from novel supply and demand side sources”.
Power Block met the challenge aims by:
Contributing to developing the flexibility market needed for system readiness to achieve net zero electricity system by 2035.
Developing evidence on the capability of new flexibility assets.
Supporting the system integration of flexibility from commercial buildings including the necessary digital interfaces and their market accessibility to help increase the pool of resources providing system stability services ahead of 2035.
The integration of commercial behind-the-meter demand side response is an area which requires novel solutions, such as building modelling, and the ability to build a strong level of trust for building owners in handing over control of their building assets to the solution operator.
How we’re doing it
Throughout the Discovery Phase stakeholders were engaged to understand user needs and challenges. These learnings were used to refine our understanding of the problem, conceptualise the technical product platform requirements and define building archetypes and their suitability for partaking in Alpha or Beta Phases.
The prioritised users for the proposed solution are commercial building owners or managers who own, operate, or oversee buildings with a Building Management System (BMS).
From a DSO perspective, as flexibility tenders offered are technology agnostic there are little user requirements from their perspective. If commercial buildings can bid into tender events with the required details, they will be assessed based on their suitability against other flexibility sources for each required area of network constraint. The Dynamic flexibility product was found to be the most attractive to the interviewed user base as this DSO flexibility product involves the least commitment from the end consumer.
The scope boundaries were defined with the intention of gaining an insight into commercial building owner/operator user requirements, barriers to engagement and understanding the work which would need to be carried out to create a digital solution for users which would facilitate greater participation in flexibility.
What makes it innovative
During the Discovery Phase stakeholder engagement interviews were carried out with building owners and industry experts to validate the Power Block solution, discuss any technical barriers, and explore interest in participation in further project phases. The solution’s functional requirements were derived from the requirements set out in the user stories formed through stakeholder engagement. These capture the key functionality and set the basis of work that needs to be done in later phases to meet their requirements.
Key user requirements:
There is a clear user requirement around transparency and understanding the impact of participating in flexibility markets. If end consumers can easily see the impact of providing flexibility has on their buildings, are not penalised if they cannot participate, and are able to report the benefits of flexibility, the appetite for participation in those markets is large.
A consistent and recurring theme is the requirement to maintain continuity of service in their core day-to-day business operations and to limit the risk of disruption to their service delivery. An example of an operational need was a stakeholder needing to ensure that their EV fleet would be charged sufficiently for when the vehicles were required to be deployed.
The value proposition for the proposed solution based around user needs includes:
Reduction in energy bills through better management of onsite demand.
Additional revenue stream for building owners by participating in flexibility markets.
Increased ability to meet environmental targets but shifting electricity consumption based on grid carbon intensity.
What we’re learning
Power Block key findings:
Building energy usage is determined based on balancing comfort, carbon emissions, and cost.
Flexibility, for building operators, entails understanding the impact and benefits of deviating from optimised operations.
Building operators prioritise occupant comfort and operational requirements such as EV charging.
Buildings operate on a day-ahead basis when forecasting energy usage.
Power Block outcomes from Discovery Phase:
Bringing together commercial building stakeholders and DSOs created an opportunity to consider specific barriers to engaging in flexibility.
Barriers to engagement in flexibility have now been documented for future projects to consider.
Building operators require a solution which:
Automates participation in flexibility markets.
Maintains occupant comfort and operational requirements.
Offers the ability to opt out at short notice if required.
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