Synergy Module

The central topic of this blog is demand response. However the two imperative drivers for DR are climate change and the economic fallout of peak oil. I don’t know which is going to affect my children more. What follows are two videos I watched this weekend, one on each topic.

The following TED conference speech, addressing what we need to do to avoid climate change, is unusual in that at the end we see the depth of emotion in the speaker regarding climate change.

If the above video addresses the fear of climate change then the following video, of Congressman Bartlett, speaks to the fear of the economic fallout of peak oil. This is the first in a sequence on YouTube. The entire set takes an hour to watch. It is worth taking the time.

I was really impressed by the Webcast by Mary Ann Piette I found yesterday so I did a search and found this one as well. Its even better! This evening I rang Mary Ann and asked her who produced the boxes that she demonstrated during her talks. The Synergy Module type device she demonstrated is made by Akuacom (www.akuacom.com).

The following YouTube video gives a good idea of the state of research into automated energy demand management.

This EU video is an interesting insight into the renewable energy strategy of the EU.

On Thursday and Friday night, 17th and 18th of January, I saw the following advertisement on the main state sponsored television channel in Ireland, RTE 1.

I believe that this advertisement sets out to create a misleading impression regarding the effects of (burning) gas on our planet. Gas is a fossil fuel and, as with every other fossil fuel, if you burn it you release CO2. Gas therefore contributes to global warming.

Obviously, I have no problem with a company selling gas. It will take us a while either to replace fossil fuels or find ways to sequestrate the carbon after we burn the fuel. My problem is that this advetrisment creates the impression that burning gas has no negative effect. I think that in fifty years from now this advertisement will apprear to our grand-children as ridiculous as the advertisements of fifty years ago extolling the health benefits of cigarettes.

I have lodged a formal complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland.

One of the problems with renewable energy is the inflexibility of supply. This inflexibility is the very feature that requires EDM which is the topic of this blog. EDM can only go so far in balancing the supply and demand of electricity. Another technique is to builld supergrids that link broad geographical areas so that meteorological variations can be averaged.

In 2003 the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) was founded by the Club of Rome, the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation and the National Energy Research Center of Jordan (NERC). TREC in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) developed the DESERTEC Concept of linking African, Middle East, and Northern European states electrical grids into one supergrid using high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnects.

This is a fantastic idea. I recommend you visit http://www.desertec.org to learn more and to register your approval for the project in their ‘Give TREC Your Voice’ campaign.

The Eirgrid Generation Adequacy Report 2008 to 2014 was published recently.

http://www.eirgrid.com/EirgridPortal/uploads/Publications/GAR%202008-2014.pdf

 The report states that Ireland is facing a tight electricity supply situation:

“The most significant factor influencing this is the poor availability of the generation portfolio. Improved availability performance would greatly reduce the risk to security of supply. However if availability continues at the current low levels, then the system is facing immediate deficits.”

We are moving to less diversity of supply as all new generation capacity planned in the near future is either (Russian) gas or wind generated power.

The report recognises the benefits of moving demand to off-peak hours. “Shifting 1% of annual consumption from peak to off-peak hours would remove the requirement for approximately 135 MW.”

 With regard to wind power generation (WPG) the report states. “There is also considerable investor interest in wind powered generation, however, due to its inherent characteristics, it offers limited generation adequacy benefits. Furthermore if WPG is installed at a linear rate of 270 MW per annum there would be just over 1,700 MW installed by the end of 2010. This should be sufficient to enable 18.0% of the electricity requirement to be provided from renewable sources and would mean that the Government’s target of 15% by 2010 is exceeded.”

The problem with wind energy is, of course, that it’s only available when the wind blows. That means that it has very little effect on supply adequacy.

Furthermore the contribution of WPG towards generation adequacy (i.e. Capacity Credit of WPG) has not keep pace with the growth in installed capacity or energy supplied. In fact, while installed WPG capacity has increased by 40% per annum over the last 5 years, in the same period the capacity credit (as a percentage of installed WPG capacity) has fallen from 35 to 24 %, see Figure 4-7. As outlined in Section 2.3(b), this is due to the inherent inability of WPG to behave as a number of fully independent power plants. All WPG in Ireland tends to act more or less in unison as wind speeds rise and fall across the country. The probability that all WPG will cease generation for a period of time (as a result of wind conditions) limits its ability to ensure continuity of supply and thus its benefit from a generation adequacy perspective.

EirGrid recognise the benefits of moving demand to off peak times. They do not acknowledge in the report that energy demand management (EDM) can improve WPG adequacy if the EDM is operated based on actual current wind energy production rather than on tine based tariffs. In particular the possibility of stimulating demand at times of excess wind energy could reduce or eliminate the need for wind farm curtailment. 

I have been fascinated by a paper published by Phoebe Bright for some time. Everybody has a theory as to how the world (and the Irish) economy will evolve as a result of peak oil and government reaction to global warming. Phoebe is different from every other commentator I have read or listened to in two fundamental ways.

1) She deals with multiple possible scenarios

2) She presents her analysis in a very humorous form

As a result of our shared interest we have started to communicate regularly. I strongly recommend reading her paper, available via the following URL.

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/54C78A1E-4E96-4E28-A77A-3226220DF2FC/27072/VividlogicRevised.pdf

Last week, Phoebe sent me an email bringing to my attention that ESB, in conjuntion with CER, have launched an RFQ for the purchase of 2,500 smart meters to implement a pilot project. It is clear from the proposed specification that EDM is envisaged as a research objective of this pilot. Below is the URL to the tender documents.

 http://www.e-tenders.gov.ie/search/search_show.aspx?ID=NOV094156

On November 1st 2007, the single electricity market (SEM) comes into effect. This market will create an opportunity to trade demand side units (DSUs) for the first time in Ireland. I have contacted CER to begin the licensing of Synergy Module to trade in DSUs on the SEM.

Synergy Module now has two seperate R&D teams working on the development of technology to deliver DSM. One team is working on the development of the Synergy Module while the other is working on the development of the Synergy Service.

The diagram above is an overview of the system being developed.

Further information on the liberalisation of European Energy markets can be learned from the video below.

I am fascinated by the new all electric Tesla Roadster. Electric and hybrid cars offer the opportunity to consume surplus energy from renewables such as wind and wave to replace our current dependance on fossil fuels for motoring.

www.teslamotors.com

Electric Car + Renewable Energy + EDM = Fossil Fuel Displacement