Honeywell and SSE rollout Thames Valley smart grid project

Honeywell yesterday announced plans to work with SSE on a smart grid project that will link up to 30 commercial and industrial premises in the Thames Valley, west of London.

The pilot project centred around Bracknell will allow electricity consumption to be temporarily reduced during peak times to help alleviate transmission and distribution bottlenecks, while cutting energy use, utility bills and carbon emissions.

Honeywell will install automated demand response (Auto DR) systems in the participating facilities, which will then work with SSE to trim peak electricity use.

The existing local networks and substations are already nearing capacity, so the trial will help reduce strain on the system with necessitating the disruption and expense of a major grid upgrade.

The collaboration is part of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution’s (SSEPD) £30 million New Thames Valley Vision (NTVV) project, awarded by energy regulator Ofgem.

“NTVV has the potential to revolutionise our existing networks, and help us to manage resources and equipment more effectively,” says Stewart Reid, project director at SSEPD. “We'll need to collaborate with our customers to achieve these goals and see Auto DR as a one of the key tools to make that a reality.”

Honeywell has already demonstrated the technology in Bracknell, finding that commercial premises could easily reduce their peak electrical load by 45%. The full project could reduce energy use by around 10 MW when necessary, says the company.

For further information:
www.honeywell.com
www.sse.com

25 January 2012

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