Notice

Interoperable Demand Side Response Programme: successful projects

Published 17 January 2023

This programme is part of the up to £65 million overarching Flexibility Innovation Programme which seeks to enable large-scale widespread electricity system flexibility through smart, flexible, secure, and accessible technologies and markets. The Flexibility Innovation Programme will fund innovation across a range of key smart energy applications, and sits within the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).

Stream 1

The Interoperable Demand Side Response (IDSR) Stream 1 seeks to support the development and demonstration of energy smart appliances to deliver interoperable demand side response according to the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 1878 and 1879.

Energy Smart Heat Pump

Participant organisations:

• Samsung Electronics UK (Lead applicant)
• Passiv UK

Project grant value: £510,261.68

Project summary

Heat-pumps are one of the few market ready technologies that can decarbonise our heating systems and the Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy sets out an ambition to achieve 600,000 installations per year by 2028.

If heat pumps are not managed intelligently, then 600,000 installations a year will impose huge costs on electricity networks which will need expensive reinforcement works.

The PAS 1878 and PAS 1879 provide important frameworks for the functionality and architecture of energy smart appliances and Demand Side Response (DSR) that will be critical for allowing the integration of heat pumps at scale.

In this project, Samsung will work with project partner Passiv UK to design and develop a technology solution that is able to provide DSR services via Samsung Heat Pumps in compliance with PAS 1878 and 1879. We will then provide Smart Heat Pumps to test labs for testing during Phases 2 and 3 of the project.

Project DSRR

Participant organisations:

• Green Energy Options (Lead applicant)
• Vaillant
• EDF
• GreenSync Pty Ltd
• Smarter Grid Solutions Limited

Project grant value: £1,491,529.10

Project summary

DSR Ready will convene a consortium of industry experts to leverage world-leading open standards to demonstrate how PAS 1878 and PAS 1879 deliver the benefits of interoperable demand side response (DSR) to UK consumers. The capability demonstrated will unlock DSR services to the flexibility market from domestic assets at the largest scale, whilst ensuring consumers and the UK’s electricity network are protected in line with BEIS’s core principles.

Building on Green Energy Options’s successful Core4Grid Project and Domestic DSR White Papers, DSR Ready use PAS1878’s proposed Interface A (OpenADR) to connect Demand Side Response Service Providers (DSRSP’s) with households using a Green Energy Option’s Customer Energy Manager (CEM). The CEM will have a local gateway device in the home that relays data securely to Energy Smart Appliances primarily a Heat Pump and an EV Charger using Matter as the Interface B protocol.

PAS-DSRFlex

Participant organisations:

• Landis & Gyr Ltd

Project grant value: £823,030.00

Project summary

The PAS-DSR Flex project will demonstrate how demand side response (DSR) technology can help to manage a renewables-based electricity grid using British Standards.

Landis+Gyr will bring together Etrel EV charge points and home battery systems from Puredrive Energy under the control of DSR service provider True Energy in settings indicative of the real-world.

The DSR technology is based on the British Standards PAS 1878 and PAS 1879, which ensures high levels of cyber security and interoperability, safeguarding consumer data, protecting the electricity grid and allowing consumers to switch their DSR service provider seamlessly.

Direct load control commands will be delivered over the internet, taking advantage of the significant cyber-security and interoperability features of PAS 1878.

The project commences with an agile design and development phase. Following this, lab testing and subsequent trials will take place in a real-world setting where interoperability will be tested between DSR service providers and energy smart appliances from other projects.

Zen Smart IDSR Interoperability

Participant organisations:

• System Mechanics Limited (Lead applicant)
• ev.energy Limited
• CarbonTRACK Global Holdings LTD

Project grant value: £1,399,328.49

Project summary

Systems Mechanics (SysMech) have formed a consortium with ev.energy and carbonTRACK to design and develop a “Demand Side Response” (DSR) solution, to enable consumers to flexibly alter their energy usage in line with the UK Government’s targets for transition to net zero. The initial project scope will meet the objectives of BEIS IDSR Stream 1 to demonstrate DSR operations using domestic EV chargers in real world settings, integrating Energy Smart Appliances (ESAs), Customer Energy Manager (CEM) and Demand Side Response Service Provider (DSRSP) platforms.

SysMech’s cloud-based Zen framework will provide a CEM for automated smart energy grid flexibility operations (allowing choice of DSRSP’s to consumers and their ESA’s), initially providing interoperability for carbonTRACK’s DSRSP and ev.energy ESA platforms via standard interfaces according to PAS 1878 and the principles of PAS 1879 technical frameworks.

Energy Systems Catapult will fulfil a technical oversight, advisory and dissemination role for the project.

Interoperable Residential Energy Flexibility (IREF)

Participant organisations:

• Centrica Business Solutions UK Ltd (Lead applicant)
• Mixergy Ltd
• Daikin Airconditioning Limited
• Glen Dimplex UK Limited

Project grant value: £671,783.50

Project summary

The flexibility of residential energy smart appliances will be crucial to support the stability of an energy system with a growing amount of renewable energy sources. This project will improve the interoperability of existing demand-side response solutions based on the PAS 1878 and PAS 1879 standards.

A key strength of this project is that its results will be widely applicable due to the involvement of a variety of energy smart appliances, including electric storage heaters, electric heating, heat pumps and electric vehicles. These appliances have different technical and technological constraints, which require different integration options with the demand side response platform to be investigated (e.g. local controller versus cloud to cloud). The developed demand-side response architecture will therefore not only ensure the interoperability with a single integration option, but with multiple ones, increasing the applicability of the project results.

Tomorrow’s Homes Today

Participant organisations:

• Voltalis UK (Lead applicant)
• The Electric Heating Company Ltd
• Dcbel

Project grant value: £933,896.25

Project summary

Ambitious decarbonisation targets are driving the rapid expansion of renewable generation and the electrification of heat and transport. This combined with high energy prices is driving the urgent need for UK electricity system flexibility. Domestic loads have a key role to play in realizing this level of flexibility.

Tomorrow’s Homes Today (THT) focuses on the main household loads of today and tomorrow. The project consortium partners include:

• Voltalis – a leading European independent domestic aggregator
  
• EHC – prominent UK heating appliances provider
  
• DCBel – sustainable EV and home energy solutions innovator

THT will investigate the feasibility of interoperable domestic demand side response on both smart and ‘dumb’ (i.e. analogue / not internet connected) appliances via both cloud-to-cloud communications and retrofits, to allow UK households to participate in the energy transition and fight against the energy emergency, wherever they live and irrespective of their income.

Stream 2

The Interoperable Demand Side Response (IDSR) Stream 2 seeks to support the development and demonstration of energy smart appliances to deliver interoperable demand side response via the GB smart metering system.

Smart­DSRFlex

Participant organisations:

• Landis & Gyr Ltd

Project grant value: £1,293,279

Project summary

The Smart-DSRFlex project will demonstrate how demand side response (DSR) technology can help to manage a renewables-based electricity grid using British Standards and the smart meter system.

Landis+Gyr will bring their smart metering expertise together with Etrel EV charge points and home battery systems from Puredrive Energy under the control of DSR service provider True Energy in settings indicative of the real-world.

The DSR technology is based on the British Standards PAS 1878 and PAS 1879, which ensures high levels of cyber security and interoperability, safeguarding consumer data, protecting the electricity grid and allowing consumers to switch their DSR service provider seamlessly.

The smart meter system will be used to transport DSR commands and data, taking advantage of the significant cyber-security and interoperability capabilities of the system.

The project commences with an agile design and development phase. Following this, lab testing and subsequent trials will take place in a real-world setting where interoperability will be tested between DSR service providers and energy smart appliances from other projects.

ChameleonFIP

Participant organisations:

• Chameleon Technology (UK) Limited

Project grant value: £1,121,282

Project summary

Chameleon Technology (UK) Ltd, working with key subcontractor Critical Software propose to take an off the shelf EV charger and integrate it into a PAS 1878 and PAS 1879 compliant DSR-ready system that leverages the UK smart metering infrastructure to deliver an interoperable solution.

The project integrates Critical Software’s existing and tested Standalone Auxiliary Proportional Controller (SAPC) alongside SMS’ FlexiGrid platform which will serve as a test stub of a PAS-compliant Demand side response service provider (DSRSP) that will be licensed to Chameleon by SMS PLC under the project.

Chameleon bring their experience of consumer engagement, consumer interfaces, high volume electronics design and manufacture to ensure a scalable, consumer and commercially focused and affordable mass market solution is delivered to support increased demand flexibility in line with the UK government’s net-zero target.

Stream 3

Stream 3 is the feasibility assessment to understand the different functional and technical options available to create interoperable domestic energy management system

Participant organisations:

• Accenture

Project value: £24,968.80

Project summary

The project is a feasibility study to assess the technical and functional requirements for LV Energy Management Systems (EMS) to enable remote and dynamic load control including the different interfaces, communication protocols and cyber security considerations. This will be achieved by assessing an array of solutions including those being trialled as part of Stream 1 and 2 and running workshops with key industry stakeholders to obtain further insights. The outcome will be a report that will provide industry stakeholders an overview of what a EMS could look like, what its functional and technical requirements would be, how it could be implemented and operated and any challenges associated with its delivery.

OpenDSR for All

Participant organisations:

• Carbon Co-op

Project value: £29,948.64

Project summary

Carbon Co-op’s feasibility study ‘OpenDSR for All’ will explore the benefits and technical barriers to an open standards approach to domestic Demand Side Response (DSR).

The test case will be ‘PowerShaper Flex’, our domestic DSR aggregator service designed to fully comply with the OpenADR specification. Significant domestic loads and storage are controlled via our Home Energy Management System (HEMS) using open standards. Baselining and verification are realised via our DCC-linked smart metering service.

OpenDSR for All will incorporate three key areas:

1. A review of the PAS 1878 specifications - particularly SAPC, data exchange and cyber security requirements and the technical barriers to full HEMS compliance.
   
2. Review of OpenADR 2.0 in the context of PAS 1879, what changes might be required to meet full compliance and interface with DSR service providers.
   
3. An exploration of commercialisation opportunities, including an analysis of the current market landscape and associated implementation costs, barriers and opportunities.

Project Open IC (Interface C)

Participant organisations:

• Green Energy Options Ltd (GEO)

Project value: £25,200.00

Project summary

GEO’s Project Open Interface C (“Open IC”) explores how a competitive flexibility market can be enabled using the PAS 1878/1879 approach in a real-world scenario with multiple Energy Smart Appliances (ESAs) per home, allowing for their operation by different, independent Demand Side Response Service Providers (DSRSPs). The proposed architecture is based on an “Interface C” that supports independent but implicitly coordinated control of multiple ESAs. From a technology implementation point of view, the project will consider using a low-cost SMETS Prepayment Interface Device (PPMID) as the home energy management system, leveraging the existing investment in the GB smart metering system and providing a viable and low-cost route to mass deployment of secure ESAs. In this project, GEO will draw upon its extensive domain experience while using inputs from stakeholders including Energy Suppliers, Network Operators and DSRSPs to ensure a wide range of perspectives is represented.

Laboratory testing and demonstration of interoperable DSR applications in settings indicative of the real world

Testing and demonstration will be delivered by the independent delivery partner(s) appointed for the programme.

Interoperable Demand Side Response Lot 1 – Laboratory Testing

Participant organisations:

• Engage Consulting Ltd
• NMI
• SMS

Project value: £2,608,655.00

Project summary

Engage Consulting Ltd in partnership with NMi Certain and SMS Plc have been contracted to design and deliver laboratory testing schemes for demand side response systems from both a conformance and performance perspective.

Interoperable Demand Side Response Lot 2 – Demonstrations in Real World

Participant organisations:

• Resillion
• Quality Logic
• ScottishPower
• Power Networks Demonstration Centre

Project value: £1,891,765

Project summary

Resillion in partnership with subcontractors Quality Logic, ScottishPower and Power Networks Demonstration Centre have been contracted to design and deliver performance testing and demonstrations of groups of Energy Smart Appliances and Demand Side Response Service Platforms, in settings indicative of the real world.