Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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22 | SEPTEMBER 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Close-Up Water and energy: demand response to the customer via Welsh Water's not-for-profit business model. Huge potential for growth The 5MW that Welsh Water will make available via the technology in the next 12-18 months only represents 10% of the utility's average energy load of 45-50MW, so there is certainly scope for it to be rolled out further in future. Industry experts believe that at least a third of water industry assets will be eligible for dynamic frequency response, indicating that 15MW may be feasible for DCWW. "The water sector consumes a lot of energy, but much of it is not time- sensitive, so there is huge scope for water companies to be flexible about when they consume energy and shi‡ their demand intelligently," says Chris Kimmett, Commercial Manager at Open Energi. "From National Grid's point of view, they are buying an insurance contract, and it's a very fast acting service that is available 24 hours a day. It reacts within 2 seconds, and can react to quite drastic changes in demand or supply imbalance: for example, if there is a storm and there's a lot of wind energy on the network, we would increase consumption across our portfolio very temporarily to absorb that increase in power. Equally if a power station suddenly goes offline, then you can very quickly decrease consumption temporarily until something else is available to pick up the slack." Other water companies are also heavily involved. United Utilities, which is also rolling out Open Energi's technology, says that it is aiming to provide 20MW of frequency response by the end of AMP6. When you consider that it is also on track to provide 30MW of more conventional reserve response via STOR (see box) this would add up to a mighty 50MW of total demand response, which could be worth £5M or more per year to the business. Meanwhile, Anglian Water already receives around £2M a year through its participation in demand response schemes such as STOR and DSBR, and Northumbrian Water has also unveiled some ambitious plans in this area. With water companies also generating more of their own power through renewable sources, pairing such efforts with demand response could really open the door to a profitable all-round energy strategy. "Unlike some of the simpler demand response measures where we contract directly to the National Grid, frequency response involves a response of just a few seconds, which is why we looked to engage with a partner," says Mike Pedley, energy manager at Welsh Water. "The trial we did ran very successfully, and so we went out to market to contract with a company to do a first phase of a rollout and Open Energi were successful in winning that contract, so we're looking forward to working with them to roll it out." The technology acts like a distributed storage network, automatically adjusting the pumps' power consumption within seconds to help manage fluctuations in electricity supply and demand. These adjustments have zero impact on Welsh Water's operations but help to build a smarter, more responsive system which supports renewables and the wider UK transition to a zero carbon economy. "This particular part of our energy strategy is not about saving energy but about changing the time when we use it," says Pedley. "Increasingly, the commodity cost of the energy itself is a smaller and smaller component of what we pay in our energy bill. It's far more about when you use energy and how quickly you can change your energy usage at any one particular time." He adds that there is no risk to performance in terms of customer service or environmental compliance, as Welsh Water has set the limits within which the assets can be controlled by Open Energi, and can take any asset out of the service temporarily if there are operational issues. Furthermore, the financial gains from demand response and other energy initiatives are returned • Demand-side opportunities for water companies There are at least 15 demand- side schemes which water companies can get involved in, which are either directly administered by National Grid or via third parties. Some of the main ones are: Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR): An important source of reserve energy for National Grid, STOR is procured through 3 tenders throughout each year. Users contract to reduce usage by a specified amount with a response time of 20 minutes. Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR): A time-limited tendered product aimed at major energy users willing to reduce their electricity use between 4pm and 8pm on winter weekdays in return for payment. Fast Reserve: A monthly tendered market designed to procure large blocks of reserve energy of 50MW to respond within 2 minutes. Firm Frequency Response (FFR): A monthly electronically tendered service through which National Grid procures energy that can respond within 30 seconds. Demand turn-up: A new service, under development, which will pay businesses to increase demand when there's too much energy in the system, typically responding within 10 minutes. Triad Avoidance: The practice of reducing consumption at periods where peak winter national demand is forecast (Triads), in order to reduce the transmission charges that are levied on major users.