Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | SEPTEMBER 2022 | 37 – began construction of its Customer Energy Village in February, with work expected to complete in the autumn. Owen believes that as well o• ering a sandbox for upgrading the UK's ageing hous- ing stock, the test dwellings will foster new solutions applicable to even some of the most modern housing on the market. "We identi€ ed homes with the highest penetration then considered the human ele- ment," he says. "For example, what prop- erties might serve more elderly residents, which might more typically be used by young families, by single persons and so on to establish a base line of property types. "We then agreed to create identical twins of some properties to allow research to have a reference point – for example, change one twin and observe the impact referenc- ing the unchanged sibling," he continues. "The design aims to provide a high degree of „ exibility to maximise the potential for research, innovation, training and stake- holder engagement." Ongoing and vibrant work On top of the logistics of integrating smart technology designed to carry the UK to its 2050 climate targets into homes drawn up and built more than a century prior, "by far" the most challenging aspect of building a nine-home village from scratch has come from identifying funding routes to support a project of such scale and complexity during concept stage, according to Owen. In total, the test village will cost £2.4 mil- lion with £1.96 million in funding coming from the North East Local Enterprise Part- nership through the Local Growth Fund and Getting Building Fund, and the remaining £440,000 invested by NGN. Yet the end result, Owen hopes, will be the foundations for home owners, policy- makers, the construction industry, hous- ing associations, product manufacturers and wider stakeholders to understand the challenge of retro€ tting older houses with the newest carbon-saving solutions and energy-saving tech to facilitate a fair energy transition. What's more, part of the village vision is a place where the future decarbonisation of homes and energy is brought to life for consumers, so they can make sense of what Owen sees as a "complex, mind boggling transition to a low-carbon economy" – and in doing so, be well informed about energy consumption dilemmas that await. "We want to see the facility evolve to have an ongoing and vibrant programme of work from a broad range of partners, which deliv- ers real world bene€ ts to all consumers," he says. "We want the facility to be relevant to the net-zero challenge and to be the 'go to' facility for innovation, product development and consumer engagement." Natural project evolution As such, once complete, the village will be open for any organisation wishing to trial new and emerging technologies to move in. "We want to test technologies that can be used in the home, including but not limited to smart digital solutions and smart add- on's to existing installations or appliances, as well as heat pumps, hydrogen boilers and infrared heating," Owen explains. Northumbrian Water's Fair Water project – in collaboration with NGN, Newcastle Uni- versity, National Energy Action and Procter & Gamble – will be the € rst partner-led project to get underway at the site. Fair Water was chosen as one of the win- ners in Ofwat's £36 million Water Break- through Challenge and awarded £3.8 million ahead of a 1 April start date. Northumbrian's research and develop- ment manager, Chris Jones, told Utility Week Innovate that the project aims to "transform" customers' lives by co-creating new products and technology-based solutions, encourag- ing behavioural change and funneling them into integrated "pathways" to fair and sus- tainable utilities. "The idea is that it'll be a web portal encapsulating all the knowledge and know- how that we've captured through the pro- ject, and make that available for anybody to understand their options, technologies and where we think they € t in terms of some- body's life," he said. But how will Owen and project partners ensure that such technologies climb the property ladder from test village into hun- dreds, perhaps thousands, of real-life con- sumer homes? "Projects will naturally evolve to a point where the next step is a broad consumer trial," he explains. "By that time, the Cus- tomer Energy Village will have provided the platform to de-risk much of that next step and showcased whatever technology might be delivered into consumers' homes during the trial. "It also provides a hot soak test facil- ity where, during a community roll out, the technologies can continue to operate and issues identi€ ed by consumers can be brought back to test and understand how improvements can be made." Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate "We need to do the transition with the consumer, rather than to the consumer, to drive the optimal solutions and to support a fair transition for all." Keith Owen, head of systems development and energy strategy, NGN "We need to do the transition with the consumer, rather than to the consumer, to drive the optimal solutions and to support a fair transition for all." , head of systems development and energy strategy, NGN The model village aims to cover the bulk of the UK's diverse housing stock

• Cover