The Whole Energy Systems Accelerator (WESA) is a world-first energy innovation test and evaluation facility, enabling interactions between homes, energy networks, and market & policy frameworks to be tested in real-time and across a range of potential future energy system and market scenarios.

WESA combines Energy Systems Catapult’s real world test environment of over 2,000 digitally connected homes – the Living Lab – with the University of Strathclyde’s PNDC, to provide a unique power networks demonstration facility to research, test and accelerate multi-vector energy systems that stimulate the advancement of vital innovations needed to reach Net Zero.

WESA combines the partners’ strong reputations in energy systems innovation across electrical power systems, cybersecurity capabilities, whole energy system expertise, and consumer-focused capabilities. This makes it possible to test the physics, human behaviour, technology, and market aspects of new energy solutions concurrently and rapidly, thereby supporting the creation of a robust and affordable Net Zero energy system that considers consumers’ needs.

WESA works by extracting live data from Living Lab homes involved in an innovation trial wherever they may exist in the UK. The data can be aggregated to simulate a single street or neighbourhood across multiple real network configurations and sent to PNDC – all in real time.

PNDC takes the data and uses a real time digital simulator to demonstrate the impact on different network configurations. While at the same time PNDC replicates those electricity loads on their real-life network test centre near Glasgow – to understand the physical impact on the electricity grid.

Network impact data is then fed into the Catapult’s market emulator, created by our Systems Integration team, which can model various energy system conditions and test out different network charging mechanisms that might be used in future – such as dynamic or RAG pricing.

By combining half-hourly wholesale price data from historic records, with scheduled and DUoS prices – the market emulator produces data on current cost to supply – a price signal to the market.

Homes in the Living Lab trialling innovative demand management solutions – receive the price signal in real-time. This may prompt a change in home energy usage based on tariffs and behaviour parameters agreed by the consumer.

UK innovators will be able to test smart products and services with real consumers to ensure they not only drive down carbon emissions but work with human behaviour to give people a great experience and concurrently with the physics of the energy systems to create robust physical and market systems fit for Net Zero.

Energy Systems Catapult  is 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.

The Catatpult is managing three delivery contractors in three locations:

• South East of Scotland – lead delivery contractor Warmworks working with Energy Savings Trust and Changeworks.
• Newcastle – lead delivery contractor E.ON working with Newcastle City Council and Your Homes Newcastle.
• South East of England – lead delivery contractor Ovo Energy working with Kaluza, RetrofitWorks, Parity Projects and SunAmp.

The recruitment and installation phase of the EoH project ran from July 2020 through to October 2021, and despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, 742 heat pumps were installed into a broad spectrum of housing types and socio-economic groups, that reflects a representative sample of households across Great Britain.

Outputs derived from the project include:

• Evidence on heat pump suitability across a range of housing archetypes, including system and installation costs.
• Real-world performance data for heat pumps and demand profiles across a range of housing and consumer types.
• Insights found to inform future government policy in this area.

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Prospering from the Energy Revolution (PFER) was set up by government to design and develop approach to creating smart local energy systems. Energy Systems Catapult  played a central role within PFER through the Energy Revolution Integration Service (ERIS), providing expert guidance and support to selected projects, as well as collaborative opportunities for shared learning, including:

• Helping prevent design and demonstration projects falling into the “valley of death” typically experienced by technology demonstration programmes that address technological integration challenges
• Identifying and help PFER Projects resolve wider system issues such as consumer engagement, policy and regulatory alignment, data and communications interoperability, etc.
• Facilitating knowledge sharing with the PFER participants and the wider system stakeholders generate evidence-based insight reports to inform decision makers
• Providing whole system integration services to the PFER design and demonstration projects

ERIS delivered a range outputs to support decarbonisation of local places, including:

• Net Zero Go – a unique, powerful, easy-to-use digital platform bringing together all the tools and support that local authorities need to develop successful, locally-focused zero carbon projects.
• ZeroCarbon.Vote – a pioneering online consultation tool designed to help local authorities and businesses put people at the heart of the energy system transformation.
• Enabling Smart Local Energy Systems – Supporting the creation of Smart Local Energy Systems to attract innovative low carbon businesses, infrastructure, investment and jobs.

The Cost Reflective Pricing project investigated whether or not the fixed costs on energy bills – for network, environmental and social costs – are efficiently distributed between the standing charge and unit (per kWh) price of electricity and gas tariffs.

With these fixed costs currently recovered from the unit price, this means consumers that use more energy will pay more for the same fixed costs.

The study found that overall consumers are:

• Under-charged for the fixed costs of making energy supply available and over-charged for the units of energy they consume;
• Consumers with household generation technologies (such as solar PV) will buy fewer units of energy from the grid, so under-paid their fair share of fixed costs. Which must then be recovered in the bills of other consumers, including those in fuel poverty, increasing others energy bills.
• Consumers with household demand technologies (such as heat pumps) will buy more units of energy from the grid, so over-paid their fair share of fixed costs recovered in the unit price.

The Cost Reflective Pricing study found that rebalancing fixed and volumetric charges into the standing and unit prices respectively and moving environmental and social costs to general taxation, would more recover fixed costs more efficiently. As a result, the marginal cost of operating a heat pump would be lower than a gas boiler.

Following this study, Ofgem made some initial changes to charging consistent with the argument that network charges should have a larger fixed component and a smaller per kWh charge.