The Power in Your Hands – our OpenLV project

The Power in Your Hands – our OpenLV project

The Power in Your Hands is a local community energy initiative running in the Greenlands area of Tavistock for local householders and St. Peter’s School.

  • Want to reduce your energy costs?
  • Find out more about energy use locally?
  • Where our local energy comes from?
  • How bills could reduce in the future?

If YES, get in touch … Call 0800-233-5414, email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or let us know your details via our Contact Form.

If you’d like to take part in our Householders Survey here’s a link to it online. It will take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.

Find out more here.

TEC AGM – Monday 12th November 2018

TEC AGM – Monday 12th November 2018

The TEC AGM took place in Local Matters, Elbow Lane on the evening of Monday 12th November.

We started with the formal bit, and then followed with interactive discussion and presentations from the TEC teams about our work and Your Local Energy.

  • The TEC message – loud and clear?
  • Tamar Energy Fest – Sat. 24th November
  • Community Solar update and Share Issue
  • OpenLV – The Power in Your Hands – Ground-breaking Pilot
  • Energy Advice Service and related initiatives.
  • The future of Local Matters Community space

If you would like to get more involved, get in touch. The tiniest of contributions can make a big difference locally …

A copy of the agenda can be downloaded here and the minutes will be available shortly.

 

 

 

The Power in Your Hands App

The Power in Your Hands App

The Power in Your Hands project will be providing data on the energy use of households, and St. Peter’s School, which are in the Greenlands area of Tavistock, and connected to the Meavy Way low voltage (LV) substation.

We’re developing a computer based application, which you could also access on a tablet or smart phone.

This will provide information about energy use across the substation area at different times of the day.

Going forward, energy companies will be looking at introducing tariffs with different rates at different times of the day.

We’d like to give you an opportunity to work with us to understand how this could benefit you in the future.

Here’s an example of information we’ll be providing. It’s in the form of graphs and shows usage on October 4th.

The first one shows the power used across the Meavy Way LV substation by each of the three ‘feeders’ (each substation has a number of ‘feeds’ to the different properties. Meavy Way has three feeders).

The second one shows the total power used by everyone connected to the Meavy Way substation.

Tamar Energy Fest 2019

Tamar Energy Fest 2019

This year’s Tamar Energy Fest will be held on Saturday, 23rd November in Butcher’s Hall, Tavistock. We’ll be open from 10:00 to 15:00 and look forward to seeing you there.

If you’d like to exhibit at the event and haven’t received an invitation, or would like to get involved in some other ways, please drop us an email (hello@tamarenergycommunity.com)

This year’s Energy Fest is focusing on Powering Change – we invite you to drop-in and find out something that can make a difference to your bills and sustainability at home /work and for the planet. It’s also about localising energy and the power of local people and communities to take more control over their energy use.

We’ll be showcasing our progress with our innovative OpenLV pilot, our Warm & Well Energy Advice Service, Warmer Bedford Cottages and our Community Solar installations.

Do come and join us … it’ll be a fun and interesting day for exhibitors, visitors and volunteers alike.

 

The Power In Your Hands – OpenLV

The Power In Your Hands – OpenLV

The Power in Your Hands is a local community energy initiative running in the Greenlands area of Tavistock for local householders and St. Peter’s School.

  • Want to reduce your energy costs?
  • Find out more about energy use locally?
  • Where our local energy comes from?
  • How bills could reduce in the future?

If YES, get in touch … Call 0800-233-5414, email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or let us know your details via our Contact Form.

The Power in Your Hands is one of seven community energy pilots running in the UK as part of a graound breaking trial that will provide access to open data on local electricity networks. This should make energy more democratic and benefit you. We’ll be working to see how.

Its part of a project called OpenLV. 

This is an exciting project all about electricity. The OpenLV project is making local electricity data openly available for the first time ever and the Greenlands area of Tavistock, together with St. Peter’s School, is one of seven neighbourhoods involved across the S.West, S.Wales and the Midlands.

Your substation is where electricity is turned from a high voltage dangerous current to the low voltage electricity you use at home. Thanks to a piece of kit called an LV-CAP™ we will be able to learn more about electricity use in the Greenlands neighbourhood and work together to change our energy use habits, maybe even saving on our bills as we go!

We’re designing a website to share the data the LV-CAP™ collects, so that local residents and St. Peter’s School can see peaks and dips in electricity demand.

Knowing about our local electricity use means we can try to avoid overloading our substation and in the future, it might even be possible to have electricity tariffs which offer cheaper energy at off-peak times of day.

This video will explain more about OpenLV.

Would you be keen to find out more about the community’s energy use?

If YES, get in touch … Call 0800-233-5414, email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or let us know your details via our Contact Form.

Come along to the Smart Energy Marketplace, Tues June 19th

Come along to the Smart Energy Marketplace, Tues June 19th

Come along to the Smart Energy Marketplace at Sandy Park Exeter on Tuesday June 19th.
The event includes exhibitors and cutting edge seminars on the evolving energy market.
You’ll also find Tamar Energy Community exhibiting there.

Programme of seminars includes:
•             Whole system thinking
•             BEIS discussion on the future of small-scale low-carbon electricity generation
•             Harnessing the electric vehicle revolution
•             Local flexibility markets
•             Democratic, decentralised and decarbonised energy systems
•             Decarbonising heat and the future of the gas network
•             The next wave of energy storage
•             Zero Energy Buildings Catalyst and Energiesprong sessions

Find out more about the seminars and speaker list here: or download a summary here:

Here’s a link to book.

Tamar Energy Community (TEC) is a Community Group Member of Regen.

If you are a Member of TEC and interested in going to the event please let us know and we can send you the link to book as a Community Member.

If you are not a TEC Member and would like to join, membership costs £1. More details here.

OpenLV project selects businesses and communities for trials to access open data from local electricity networks

OpenLV project selects businesses and communities for trials to access open data from local electricity networks

Business and community competition winners have been selected as part of a ground breaking trial that will provide access to open data on local electricity networks. The winning innovation ideas could have a real impact on the future of local networks while providing benefits to a wide range of users.

The OpenLV project selected 17 applications from the business and academic arena as well as 7 successful applications, including Tamar Energy Community, from community organisations. All 24 projects will now progress to the next stage, in most cases developing apps to access data from the networks.

OpenLV, a Network Innovation Competition project led by Western Power Distribution and EA Technology, is opening up live data from local electricity networks for the first time.

Examples of community projects that have been successful in being approved for OpenLV trials include apps that will:

  • Enable home owners to use energy generation and storage in the most effective way
  • Provide a visual representation of substation demand and local generation in order to inform the development of local tariffs
  • Show energy demand across a village, to help balancing of local generation, storage and demand
  • Help optimise the match between photovoltaics (PV) and heat pump installations, so that local households flex their demand to minimise losses in the low voltage network
  • Let households know when there is high demand at the local substation, to help build the case for local business models
  • Create a public approach to reducing peak demand on substations, to lower carbon emissions, and ultimately help tackle fuel poverty
  • Raise awareness of energy usage in a tower block and demonstrate how residents can save money on bills by shifting demand from peak times.

Some examples of business and academic projects that are due to access data through OpenLV are as follows:

  • Studying the effects that localised renewables-based generation and consumption would have on local energy services
  • Investigating how future energy technology in homes could help alleviate low voltage network grid constraints and allow the roll-out of low carbon technologies without the need for costly reinforcement
  • Feeding LV network data into a prototype energy project identification platform that identifies solar energy and ground source heat pump potential as well as building performance
  • Utilising LV network data and a dedicated OpenLV platform to implement managed EV charging
  • Bringing LV network data and existing academic research into the construction of a dynamic pricing model based on current grid demand integrated with an energy trading platform
  • Developing a software application that allows electrical appliances to be automatically managed according to smart grid requirements.

Mark Dale, Innovation Project Manager at Western Power Distribution, comments: “Having greater visibility of local network power flows will give Network Operators the confidence to accept greater numbers of Low Carbon Technologies such as Electric Vehicle charge points and Distributed Generation. OpenLV, with the LV-CAP™ platform, will open up information about the capacity of local networks and create this visibility for WPD as well as for the successful participants.”

Richard Potter, EA Technology’s OpenLV Project Manager, adds: “When we opened the competition for businesses and communities to submit ideas for using open, live electricity data, we didn’t know what response to expect, so I’m delighted that we’ve had so many applications, and so many good ideas to progress to the trial stage.

“Ultimately, the technology being trialled by OpenLV is expected to be adopted in substations throughout Britain, providing useful data to a wide range of sectors including electric vehicle charging companies, renewable energy developers, property developers, facilities managers, smart city planners, operators of private energy networks, the electricity industry itself, and of course local communities.”

Find out more at www.openlv.net. To watch a short video that explains the OpenLV project visit: www.openlv.net/resources.

About OpenLV

The OpenLV Project is trialling an open software platform in electricity substations that can monitor substation performance and electricity demand. The LV-CAP™ platform is designed to integrate with third party products to enable network control and automation, and increased customer participation in network management. The platform will host applications provided by a diverse set of developers, such as community groups, businesses and universities, providing a variety of services to network operators, communities and the wider industry.

As part of the OpenLV project, the software will be installed in 80 Low Voltage (LV) distribution substations located in Western Power Distribution’s (WPD’s) licence areas – the Midlands, the South West and South Wales. The software could ultimately be deployed across the electricity network.

The project will use three approaches to demonstrate the platform’s ability to provide benefits to the network owner, customers and service providers.

OpenLV Partners

EA Technology

EA Technology is an employee-owned organisation offering high-tech instruments, software, electrical services and technical consultancy to the operators of power networks around the world. Through its Strategy & Interventions division it delivers innovative end-to-end solutions to facilitate the introduction of low carbon technologies to future proof electricity networks, resulting in lower cost connections, prompt adoption and reduced risk to business.

Western Power Distribution

Western Power Distribution is the company responsible for electricity distribution in the Midlands, South West and Wales. Its business serves over 7.8 million customers and it employs over 6,000 members of staff to ensure the highest quality of service. Western Power Distribution is regulated by Ofgem (the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets) and it is very proud to have been awarded the Government’s Charter Mark, now known as the Customer Service Excellence award, since 1992.

OpenLV project suppliers are Nortech, Lucy Electric GridKey, CSE and Regen.

Devon Community Energy Impact Report 2018

Great to be included in the Regen Communities & Devon County Council report highlighting the importance of Community Energy in Devon.

Devon Community Energy organisations have installed 12.3 MW of Renewable Energy through 62 projects in Devon. One of the many positive impacts highlighted in the report available here.

Check out Tamar Energy Community (TEC) Community Solar here.

 

Look at the huge CO2 equivalent savings made by Devon Community Energy organisations from generating green energy through renewables!

 

 

Through energy advice, energy efficiency measures and tariff switching, Devon Community Energy organisations are tackling fuel poverty.

 

 

Partnerships and connections with other organisations enable Devon Community Energy to go further so that more people benefit.

 

The number of Devon Community Energy organisations has increased to 23. Collectively they employ 33 FTE staff have 297 volunteers and 3457 members.

 

Devon Community Energy organisations collectively have raised £14.1 million to fund their Community Energy projects.

 

 

Here are the key success factors highlighted by Devon Community Energy organisations.

 

 

A lack of viable business models due to reduction in FIT was the most common reasons causing some Devon Community Energy projects to stall.

 

 

Devon has more Community Energy organisations than anywhere else in England … find out why here …

Community Energy in Devon has created 33 FTE, jobs, raised £14 million & generated enough clean green energy for 3423 homes in 2017.

 

Tamar Energy Community Annual General Meeting

Tamar Energy Community Annual General Meeting

You are hereby notified that the Annual General Meeting of Tamar Energy Community will be held on Monday 26th March 2018 at Local Matters community space in Elbow Lane, Tavistock, PL19 0BG.

Refreshments will be available from 19:00. The formal proceedings will commence at 19:30.

More here.