Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Energy Market

The electricity grid in Cornwall is heavily constrained, an issue which is increasingly affecting other parts of the UK as it pursues its legally binding renewable energy and carbon targets. In Cornwall, the grid constraint issue is exacerbated due to the excellent renewable energy sources available (Cornwall is one of the sunniest and windiest regions of the UK) and the amount of renewable energy installed. There is simply too much generation and not enough network to accommodate the export of energy. Traditional network reinforcement is expensive and takes several years to complete.

This project will design and build a local marketplace platform for the network to request, and the market to provide flexible demand, generation and storage to help optimise capacity on the local grid.

• The platform will connect to, control and optimise the generation of distributed renewable energy assets in Cornwall
• The marketplace will be trialled through industrial/commercial, SME, storage and domestic technology pilots
• The whole system will be synchronised with distribution networks and the transmission system
• It will enable value optimisation from local renewable energy generation, flexible demand and energy storage and create a more efficient and effective decentralised energy system
• It will reduce local carbon emissions and grid constraints.

In July 2020, the project saw the installation of Cornwall’s first smart grid wind turbine watch the video here:Installation of Cornwall’s first smart grid 2,3MW wind turbine