Smarter Grid Solutions will drive forward the use of active network management for flexibility management in the groundbreaking QUEST project in partnership with Electricity North West, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and Schneider Electric. Once fully implemented, the innovative project will free up network capacity for more than 2GW of clean energy assets in the UK, saving over £250 million.
Awarded £8 million through the Network Innovation Competition (NIC), QUEST will use SGS’s Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) software to create a fully coordinated, overarching system to manage voltages and balance centralised and decentralised energy control systems.
SGS’s DERMS technology connects and manages clean energy producers and low carbon technologies to the grid, moving both the grid and the market towards net zero carbon emissions.
The project will enable coordinated control and optimised management of network capacity for the development and connection of low carbon generation and new load demand. As it has the capability to be further rolled out to other UK and international energy providers, the scalability of the project highlights the level of ambition and innovation required to tackle the climate emergency.
SGS’s involvement in QUEST marks a significant milestone for the firm, which is now supplying its DERMS products to all six of the UK’s Distributed Network Operators (DNOs). SGS is also working on groundbreaking clean energy projects in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany and, most recently, India.
Graham Ault, Executive Director at Smarter Grid Solutions said: “This is the start of an important relationship that will see us work with key partners to deliver this groundbreaking integrated control system to optimise and coordinate network and low carbon technology operations.
“There are a number of core features of this project that are crucial for the development of an efficient, clean and secure electricity system, from interoperability between customer equipment, all the way to the UK's system operation and coordination across several different sources of network and customer flexibility. For this project, we are providing the digital solutions essential to enable the large scale of adoption of clean energy in the UK, and globally, in the coming decade.”
Dan Randles, Head of Network Innovation at Electricity North West said: “The QUEST project is important for us as it further develops distribution network voltage control in new and innovative ways. It has the potential to support the management of increasingly complex distribution networks as we move further to whole system solutions and as our daily lives and energy consumption habits change.
“We look forward to working with SGS to create a solution that will enable clean energy generation and management of centralised and decentralised systems that will work together to create a flexible, coordinated infrastructure that works for network and system operators and end-users alike.”
Andrew Wainwright from National Grid ESO said: “Developing a voltage management and fully coordinated control system which can be scaled and replicated marks a significant step for the industry in achieving net zero carbon emissions targets. It is important that we continue to innovate and create new solutions to future-proof the electricity system. QUEST will further the ability of the whole electricity system to quickly and efficiently deploy low carbon technologies at the scale required to solve climate challenges.”
About SGS
Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) is a leading provider of distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) software with the company about to exceed 1.3GW of renewable generation, energy storage and flexible load under control through 2019. With offices in New York, Glasgow, and California, SGS is a global solutions provider to distribution utilities and distributed energy resource operators.
About ANM Strata
ANM Strata is Smarter Grid Solutions’ world-leading enterprise solution for utilities and renewable generation operators. With its unique real-time control platform it delivers sub-second, precise control of renewable and other energy assets across a wide area from a centralized location.
About ANM Element
ANM Element is Smarter Grid Solutions’ local control solution managing a smaller number of low carbon technologies in a local area in both local grid connection management and behind-the-meter operating modes. ANM Element can also integrate seamlessly into an ANM Strata system for wider asset control.