Delivering Large Scale Innovation Trials

Modern Energy Partners (MEP) was a two-year, £20million innovation pilot exploring how to decarbonise the public sector estate to help the UK Government meet commitments on Net Zero.

From April 2019 to March 2021, the MEP developed a systematic, repeatable and scalable method of enabling large campus-style sites to create quality and value for money approaches to cutting carbon emissions.

The project was a collaborative cross-departmental programme, coordinated and delivered by Energy Systems Catapult and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Cabinet Office, with additional match funding from pathfinder sites. Delivery contractors included Aecom, Atkins, Buro Happold, Ricardo and Stantec.

MEP utilised a test bed of 42 sites responsible for over 294,000 tCO₂e carbon emissions – equating to 8% of Ministry of Defence (MOD), 17% of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and 6% of NHS sites.

Firstly, rapid data gathering technologies and techniques were deployed to appraise the Net Zero potential of sites – including installing telemetry across 26 sites.

Secondly, a range of tools and templates were developed that allowed 24 sites to create decarbonisation plans that will reduce emissions, on average, by 70% by 2032.

Thirdly, initial carbon reduction works delivered at four pathfinder sites:

• • • • Sheppey Prison Cluster
      • HMS Collingwood
      • NHS Goole and District Hospital
      • Catterick Garrison

Across the four sites 21,515 LEDs light bulbs were installed, building fabric improvements (e.g. loft and cavity wall insulation) were made and smart Building Management Systems now control 176,990 m2. Together these deliver 9,158,986 kWh, 2,444 tCO₂e and £977k saving annually.

Energy Systems Catapult delivered the £30m, five-year Smart Systems and Heat (SSH) programme between 2015 and 2019.

SSH Phase 1 – developed capabilities, tools and insights on:

• Local Energy Systems Modelling – we designed a planning framework to help local government, energy networks and other key local stakeholders plan for a low carbon future.
• Consumer-focused propositions – research revealing how the smart technology can help energy providers understand what consumers want from heating, turning passive bill-payers into discerning customers.
• Domestic energy services – we explored how profound changes in energy retail provision, such as selling Heat as a Service instead of purchasing of units of fuel, could drive the uptake of  low carbon heating solutions.

SSH Phase 2 – developed capabilities, tools and insights on:

1. Consumer trials of smart energy services – create the 100-home  Living Lab test environment to investigate how consumers use heat and testing their interest in buying ‘heat as a service’.
2. New business models and market structures – looking at new business models for energy services, the importance of interoperability and consumer protection, plus the policy and regulatory context.
3. Local Area Energy Planning – took the local energy system modelling work and developed targeted, specific projects that demonstrate the ideas in practice, including Decarbonisation Strategies in the three local areas.

Energy Systems Catapult has been appointed as Management Contractor for the £16.5 million Electrification of Heat (EoH) Demonstration Project on behalf of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The EoH project aims to overcome barriers to deployment and demonstrate the feasibility of a large-scale roll-out of heat pumps in Great Britain by installing the low carbon technology in 750 homes.

The heat pump market in Great Britain is small and research suggests this is partly driven by economics but also due to challenges in current domestic consumer proposition, such as the varying thermal efficiency of the housing stock and extremely high market penetration of gas boilers.

This trial is aiming to increase confidence in the technology to levels that could underpin a public debate and strategic decisions on the future of heat networks.

To support this, the project aims to:

• Develop, test and evaluate products and services that increase the appeal of heat pumps and identify optimal solutions for a wide range of homes.
• Demonstrate that heat pumps, including gas-electric hybrids, can deliver high consumer satisfaction across a wide range of consumers in Great Britain.
• Demonstrate the practical and technical feasibility of heat pumps, including gas-electric hybrids, across Great Britain’s diverse housing stock, as well as identifying the costs.
• Capture learning from the project to help improve awareness across the renewable heating supply chain, raise acceptance and support wider deployment of heat pumps in Great Britain.