Fossil fuels still supply around 80% of the world’s energy. To reach net zero by 2050, we must accelerate the complete transformation of our energy systems.
Challenge
ReFLEX Orkney is a £28.5 million UKRI-funded pilot program seeking to create an integrated energy system (IES) that maximises locally-generated green energy to power the community of Orkney.
The aim is to demonstrate on a smaller scale how flexible energy technologies could transform how we currently use and manage our renewable energy sources globally. As the windiest place in the UK, Orkney was chosen as the ideal location to pilot this program.
To successfully link up the island’s electricity, transport, and heat networks into a single system that could be powered by the island’s renewable energy sources, this involved integrating and closely monitoring energy data from a wide variety of sources – which had never been done before.
Approach
As data partner, UrbanTide provided the ReFLEX Orkney project with IsleDex – a single-source data insights platform for gathering and monitoring vast amounts of energy data across the island.
ReFLEX members voluntarily gave access to their household energy data so that the program could learn from their energy use and how to improve the island's current energy system and services.
Using flexible energy technology, they were able to connect renewable energy sources and distribute power in response to fluctuating demand.
IsleDex was also used to closely monitor the roll-out and carbon impact of bringing almost 200 electric vehicle and 150 EV chargers to the island for the first time.
Results
1k
941 members welcomed onto the ReFLEX program (5% of Orkney's population)
194
The number of ReFLEX electric vehicles delivered to Orkney (+ 149 EV chargers)
727
The number of tonnes of carbon savings in the first phase of running the program
Using data and AI to understand energy use and how to improve it, we can create an integrated, affordable low-carbon energy system of the future.
Our shared vision
After the successful demonstration in Orkney, the IES model will be applied to the rest of the Hebridean Isles as part of the Island's Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ) project.
From there, it’s also expected that the IES model and its integrated energy service supply framework will be replicated in other locations around the world.
UrbanTide is delighted to be supporting this drive to create an integrated, affordable low-carbon energy system of the future.
About ReFLEX Orkney
ReFLEX (Responsive Flexibility) Orkney is a project aiming to create an integrated energy system in Orkney.
Part-funded by UKRI through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the project is led by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).
The project aims to interlink local electricity, transport and heat networks into one controllable, overarching system, digitally connecting distributed and variable renewable generation to flexible demand.
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
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