A £10.8 million project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, is laying the foundation for an ambitious smart energy system across the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall.
The Smart Islands project will link rooftop solar panels, solar gardens, batteries, domestic heat pumps and electric vehicles through an Internet of things (IoT).
- You may like: Sixis aims to connect the Internet of Things
This will be developed by Hitachi Europe, installing an IoT platform to manage electricity throughout the islands. It will balance supply, storage and demand, allowing the islands to scale up renewable generation and increase their energy independence.
“Our scalable cloud-based energy management platform will allow islanders to reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels”
Two other UK companies will help with the project.
Moixa, based in London, will supply and manage its high power battery system to link to the Hitach IoT platform. It will also develop an Electric Vehicle Management System, which will control and optimise how the batteries included in electric vehicles can be used by the IoT platform.
Newbury-based PassivSystems will supply a cloud-based home energy management system for domestic buildings and building energy monitoring systems for commercial properties allowing them to be integrated into the IoT platform.
“Our scalable cloud-based energy management platform will be integrated with a range of domestic and commercial renewable technologies, allowing islanders to reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels, increase energy independence and lower their carbon footprint,” says Colin Calder, CEO of PassivSystems.”
He adds, “Our energy management systems will be installed in homes across the Isles of Scilly. Ten of these will be ‘smart homes’ piloting technologies from PassivSystems and Moixa Technology, including batteries and air source heat pumps. These technologies have the potential to significantly increase savings from solar PV systems.”
Solar solutions
Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems will be installed on 100 homes, a tenth of the island’s housing stock, and two 50kW solar gardens will be built. They will deliver at least 448kW of renewable energy and reduce the islands’ carbon footprint.
Energy management systems will be installed in the 100 solar homes and in 190 of the islands businesses. Ten of these will be smart homes piloting a variety of additional smart energy technologies including Moixa smart batteries and air source heat pumps. These technologies have the potential to significantly increase savings from solar PV.
The support to the 190 businesses on the Isles of Scilly is aimed at improving their productivity and optimising the benefits of Smart Islands through a series of interventions. A further 10 supply chain businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will be supported to develop new products and services to directly engage with the Smart Islands programme.
The aim is to have 40% of the island’s energy from renewable sources as well as 40% of vehicles being electric or low-carbon by 2025.
You can see the marine renewables roadmap from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP here
- You may like: Bristol becomes Boost centre for the Internet of Things
