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NETWORK / 28 / MAY 2016 The London Gateway private power network includes: Two 33/11Kv primary substations 35km of 11Kv cabling 8km 33Kv cabling Multiple secondary substations These were designed, procured, installed and commissioned in a 46-week project. Demand-side response (DSR), the act of shifting energy demand from peak times, was identifi ed by the National Infrastructure Commission as one of three key prongs to realising greater system fl exibility, alongside intercon- nection and energy storage, in its recent Smart Power report. DSR in the commercial sector relies on the ability to shift or shut off production when needed to lower energy use. But one of the sectors with the greatest energy consumption needs constant power, day and night, to refrigerate food stuffs for con- sumption. Now US company Viking Cold has developed a solution that means this immovable sector may fi nally be able to shift its load. Viking Cold has developed research by Nasa into phase change materials for space travel to create a form of energy storage specifi cally for cold applications. Its environmentally friendly thermal energy cells are es- sentially salt and water, but are 90% more thermally active than the food- stuffs they protect. The passive cells, used in combination with a control system and software, are installed high up in cold stores, absorbing unwanted heat in the room. The advantages of the system Viking says, are threefold. First, cold store operators are able to shave 34% off their energy use by allowing the cells to absorb energy to the level where the installed heat extraction equipment can work most effi ciently. Coupled with this, the quality of the foodstuffs is higher because less heat is absorbed during their time in cold storage. The cold energy storage capability of each cell is up to 12 hours, allowing operators to engage in DSR. While storage owners can plan ahead, the technology also allows instant fl exibil- ity if called upon by National Grid. This fl exibility is increased further when the cells are paired with a solar photovoltaic installation. Viking Cold's chief executive, James Bell, explains that the two technologies are a natural fi t, with cold storage operators able to run their facilities on solar energy during the day, but also use excess energy to bring down the temperature of the cells, allowing operators to completely shut off "and glide on our thermal cells over the night period". "This allows them a huge amount of fl exibility. Some of the biggest loads that were never able to come off the grid when demand gets high, they can now shed or shift that load at any time that they or the local utility requires it," Bell explains. Viking Cold has been in the US market since its launch in 2009 but Bell says that the time is right to enter the European and UK markets with the newly launched second gen- eration of its thermal systems. The combination of the price of power, the demands on the grid and the focus on sustainability and renewables make the UK a "very interesting" proposi- tion for the technology. I T ' S C O L D I N S PA C E … Space travel research has provided the cold storage sector with the fl exibility to shift demand.