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Wales Leads the Way in UK’s Biggest Zero Carbon Housing Project

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Wales leads the way as the UK’s largest domestic Demand Side Response trial gets off the ground as first residents move in.

FLATLINE, a Welsh based housing industry led research project aiming to demonstrate the viability of a demand-side approach to energy management at domestic level, has reached a major milestone as residents move in to three pilot homes at The Mill site in Cardiff.

Backed by the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the ‘Fixed Level Affordable Tariffs Led by Intelligently Networked Energy’ (FLATLINE) project aims to significantly reduce residents’ energy bills, using a combination of domestic Demand Side Response and demand shifting for both heat and electricity.

The specially built pilot homes at The Mill development site in Cardiff, provided by Tirion Homes for the trial, will be closely followed by a further 46 homes at a separate site, Parc Eirin in Tonyrefail. The first residents move in this autumn as the first phase of the 225 new home scheme is complete.

The new residents at The Mill will be the first to experience using Sero’s user-friendly app, which will control the energy network for each home, and intelligently draw, discharge and anticipate energy demands, almost completely avoiding the National Grid at peak times.

Sero will manage the energy systems of the homes flexibly, through a combination of buying energy at cheaper times and opening up the benefits of grid balancing payments. This will enable energy demands to be effectively matched to grid generation – reducing both carbon emissions and the cost of energy to occupants.

The project is being coordinated by Sero which will provide its intelligent home comfort service to the residents, working collaboratively with energy optimisation software developer PassivSystems. As well as the close relationship with Tirion Homes during the first part of the trial, a number of other industry partners are involved in the project
including Pobl Group, Western Power Distribution, Sonnen and Mixergy. The energy supply partner will be Octopus Energy, facilitating half hourly tariffs through their Agile API.

James Williams, Managing Director of Sero, said:

“Hitting Zero Carbon requires a dramatic change in our approach to energy and housing. The homes at both The Mill, and then Parc Eirin, will provide a demonstrable blueprint for this agenda – leading the way in showing, at
scale, how we can better complement the electricity network as it moves to more intermittent, low carbon energy sources such as wind and solar. It’s an exciting time for us and we’re grateful for Tiron to provide the first homes.

“The FLATLINE concept proposes a win-win-win scenario: flexible and intelligently-managed energy use resulting in significantly lower bills to home occupants – practically eliminating the risk of fuel poverty; electrical demands on the National Grid being shifted entirely offpeak to help support renewables on the grid; all whilst delivering lower carbon emissions in a new UK business model that can lead to growth at home and abroad.

“This demonstration phase of FLATLINE will show the world what we can achieve using the technology we have today, providing a springboard to evidence the viability of this future ‘comfort as a service’ business model.”

Colin Calder, CEO of PassivSystems, said:

“Having the opportunity through FLATLINE to demonstrate a whole home energy management solution, bespoke for newbuild homes, has been a great opportunity for us. Seeing first residents beginning to use the intelligent
control systems installed at The Mill is a real highlight in our journey to help decarbonisation, and a culmination of many months of hard work. It draws on our extensive expertise of delivering optimum comfort at minimal costs for residents, while reducing the impact on the grid and the environment.

“The government has been challenging home builders to put the environmental credentials of homes at the heart of the design, and FLATLINE provides a real-world blueprint for how this could be done.”

DAVID Ward, CEO of Tirion Homes said:

“We are delighted to be working with Sero Life on this innovative approach to demand and supply management. The project will provide a pathway to the commercialisation of the technology in a consumer-friendly package which
we believe is the key to moving to a low-carbon future in the residential sector.”

The project is supported by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy competition for Domestic Demand Side Response. The Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme has also supported delivery of Parc Eirin.

Business News Wales