Tuesday 24 October 2017

Severn Water partners to boost grid flexibility

A water supplier has teamed up with a cleantech firm to improve demand flexibility and help build a smarter energy system in the UK.

Severn Trent, which provides water to 4.5 million households and businesses, aims to use Open Energi's demand side response technology to provide more than 20MW of flexible capacity by 2020.

The firm's Dynamic Demand equipment means pumps, motors and blowers can automatically adjust and optimise electricity use second-by-second without affecting processes.

The technology is already in place at Severn Trent’s sewage treatment works in Redditch and Leicester, providing National Grid with around 1.2MW of real-time flexibility.

A further six sites have been identified as part of the first phase rollout, which is expected to be complete by early 2018.

The companies say the deal will give greater visibility of how assets are performing, second-by-second.

Rob Wild, Demand Side Response Manager at Severn Trent, said: "This insight can help us to optimise our sites for the future - pre-empting maintenance issues, improving resiliency and thinking more smartly about how we integrate other technologies, such as renewable energy and battery storage."