NI’s first smart grid delivers 55% energy cost savings

The Electric Storage Company announces results of £4.5m pilot renewables project in Coleraine

A £4.5M RENEWABLES project, part-funded by UKRI (£2.2M grant) with £2.3M match-funded, has saved a combined £27,000 in energy costs for 60 properties concentrated around the Ballysally area of Coleraine in just one year.  This represents an average saving of 55% per property across the Project.

Northern Ireland’s first smart electricity grid, ‘Project Girona’, was designed by The Electric Storage Company to demonstrate the potential benefits of a SLES (Smart Local Energy System). 

Bringing cheaper, smarter, greener electricity to homes and communities in Coleraine, The Electric Storage Company is yesterday, 28th September 2022, announcing the findings of the 12-month study.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQaUHNYD1Fg&t=19s&ab_channel=TheElectricStorageCompany
Summary Video of Project Girona, delivered by The Electric Storage Company

Combining solar panels and battery storage technology, Project Girona has successfully saved businesses, homeowners, tenants, and local community groups an average of 55% in electricity costs.  Further to the significant cost savings – which will become even greater as energy prices continue to soar – Project Girona saved 40 tonnes of CO2 – which equates to the same amount of C02 used by 19 family cars in a year. 

Equalling £450.00 average saving per household
Equalling 19 cars off the road
Enough to power 10 homes for one year

The project generated 171MWh of renewable electricity and exported 30MWh of green energy to the grid.  The exported electricity generated further income for the properties and enabled other properties to benefit from clean energy.

sonnen batterie installed as part of Project Girona 2020.

Commenting on the results of Project Girona and the technology behind its success, Eddie McGoldrick, Co-Founder of The Electric Storage Company said: “We’re living through a cost-of-living crisis with energy costs spiraling, and this makes the results of Project Girona even more relevant in today’s environment.

“We have been working on bringing this technology to market for seven years, and it’s now available to customers across Northern Ireland, who can benefit from reduced electricity costs, whilst reducing their carbon footprint. Combining battery storage with renewable technology is the way forward in future-proofing homes from the escalating energy costs that we’re seeing today.”

Following the initial pilot project, the homeowners and tenants participating in the project have been gifted the pilot technology, worth £840,000, and will continue to benefit from the savings that it generates for years to come. 

Co-Founder and Operations Director of The Electric Storage Company, Anne Marie McGoldrick, continues: “Project Girona successfully demonstrated average savings of 55% on electricity bills using this solution.  With the addition of our smart management platform, PARIS – which extracts the full economic value of every unit of energy – we are predicting further savings of up to 20% for customers.

“PARIS uses smart technology and data to make the complex simple so that the customer  doesn’t have to do a thing.”

Project Girona involved just 60 properties, which in turn saved almost £27,000 in energy costs. As a pilot project, this indicates that if the same solar panel and battery storage smart solution provided by The Electric Storage Company was applied to 1000 new homes that it would generate 2.8GWh of green energy, worth £625,000 and importantly reduce carbon emissions by 667 tonnes in one year. 

Solar Panel Installation Project Girona, Coleraine.

Minister for the Economy, Gordon Lyons, visited Focus on Family, a charitable Nurturing & Development Centre based in the Ballysally Estate, to learn more about the benefits of the technology and how it has saved businesses, homeowners, tenants and charities like Focus on Family thousands of pounds in electricity costs. A representative from Focus on Family met with the minister and told how the organization has made savings of a staggering 69% (£855*) on its electricity bills since adopting the solar panel and battery storage solution.

Commenting on his visit, Minister Lyons added; “I am acutely aware that the unprecedented rise in energy prices is having a significant impact on homes, business, and the community sector. While we, unfortunately, do not have control of the global markets dictating many of these costs, green energy projects help to protect consumers by providing alternative sources of energy. Project Girona is an excellent example of an innovative local pilot project making energy more affordable.

“My Department’s energy strategy ‘The Path to Net Zero’ is a longer-term strategy for the whole of Northern Ireland to become less vulnerable to volatile global energy markets. Affordability is front and centre of this strategy which takes an ‘energy efficiency first’ approach aiming to help consumers to reduce the energy they use and therefore their energy bills.”

sonnen batterie 10 installation, 2020.

Find out more about this smart energy solution and the work of The Electric Storage Company at www.theelectricstoragecompany.com

For further information:

Curtis Cregan *The Electric Storage Company* [email protected]

Riki Neill / Jolene Kelly * RNN Communications * [email protected]

NOTES

  1. The GIRONA project started in Mar 20 with field installations starting in Feb 21.  The Project concluded on 28 May 2022 with the final report submitted in Jun 22 to UK Research and innovation (UKRI). 
  2. The project started as the first COVID-19 lockdown was initiated.  The Project was successfully delivered during the pandemic.
  3. A total of 172 MWh of electricity was generated by solar PV (12 months).  This is 49.6% of total electricity consumption by the Girona cluster (129 MWh).  There are 2 locations in the cluster that are large consumers which are skewing the figures somewhat.  If these are removed the total generation increases to 55% instead of 49.6%.
  4. 2.    Total/cluster savings (12 months) is approximately £26,995 (based on a 18p/unit price)
  5. 3.    Total/cluster CO2 savings (12 months) equates to 40.2 tonnes of CO2 not produced by the power stations.  This is the equivalent of taking 19 family cars off the road in terms of CO2 production.
  6. 4.    The GIRONA cluster exported a total of 31 MWh of electricity back to the network (this is included 172k generation figure) (12 months).  This means that other consumers were availing of renewable/green electricity generated by the GIRONA cluster (c.3tonnes of CO2 that power stations have not had to produce). * This CO2 data was generated using the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Footprint Calculator.
  7. GIRONA has 60 properties with PV and battery.  These properties came on-line incrementally and not altogether. 
  8. TESC has already created 15 new green jobs with a plan to raise a further 10 jobs in the near future. 
  9. Focus on Family, made cost savings of 69% (equating to £855*) on its electricity bill following installation of the solar panel and smart battery solution for Project Girona.

*this figure is an estimate based on a flat rate cost of 24p and no feed in rate

MEET TEAM TESC! – Curtis Cregan

We thought you might want to know what makes team TESC tick! Over the next few weeks, you will get the chance to #MeetTheTeam.

First up, our Marketing and PR Co-Ordinator. Curtis is a graduate of Ulster University and joined us last year having previously spent time in the retail, wholesale, and engineering industry.

What is your role at TESC?

“My role here at TESC is to grow the brand and a huge part of that is educating people on the problem we face, the technology and the solutions we can offer. What we do is quite complex and trust me as someone who hasn’t come from a data or renewables background it took me a while to fully wrap my head around it.

The beauty of what we do is that we take the complexity out of the equation for our customers. Our PARIS platform is able to make an informed decision on how best to maximise the value of each unit of energy.

Offering protection from rising prices by giving them control over their energy. In turn, our customers are seeing a reduction in their energy bills, CO2 consumption as well as peace of mind knowing that they are getting closer to achieving Net Zero by maximising the potential of their renewables. “

How have you found your time at TESC so far?

“I am delighted to be celebrating my 1-year anniversary at TESC. To be part of such a talented and dynamic team that are committed to revolutionising the energy market is really exciting.

I feel like I’ve got in at the ground floor of the next big company from NI and I can’t wait to see what the future brings!

Since joining I have been supported every step of the way and given the trust and freedom to really grow as a professional.”


What are you most looking for in the future?

We have some quite exciting projects coming up. I don’t want to say too much and ruin the surprise. The most exciting thing is that we have received investment from Heron Brothers. To have such a prestigious organisation share their expertise can only help us in achieving our goals.

Heron Bros Deliver Power Boost for The Electric Storage Company with Significant Investment and Strategic Partnership

The Electric Storage Company (TESC) has announced a significant seven figure investment and strategic partnership with the Heron Brothers.

This investment from Heron Bros will now fast track TESC’s growth plans significantly and they plan to more than double their team of power and software engineers, and data scientists to 35 in the next 2-3 years.

Heron Bros, an award-winning construction and property development company which operates throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe is already experienced in the renewable space as lead partner in the renewable energy company, Simple Power which was at the forefront of wind energy production in Northern Ireland.

The partnership will enable the further roll out of the PARIS platform (Predictive Analytical Renewables Integration System). PARIS brings Fintech and GreenTech together using leading edge data analytics software to gather data from smart batteries in people’s homes and commercial buildings and then ensures they get the cheapest, greenest energy.

Speaking about the investment Damien O’Callaghan, Group MD, Heron Bros said; “The combined strengths of Heron Bros and The Electric Storage Company will now offer an exciting and innovative proposition to help our customers on the path to net zero. According to recent research from leading management consultancy McKinsey’s, real estate across homes and businesses accounts for about 40% of all Greenhouse gas emissions. It is our belief that by improving the efficiencies in real estate (both new construction and existing buildings) that most companies can realistically reduce more than half of their emissions between now and 2030. This significant investment and partnership are designed to help companies and individuals do just that.”

Eddie McGoldrick, Director TESC added; “The Electric Storage Company combines Northern Ireland’s expertise in power engineering, fintech and big data and we are now aiming to ‘scale up’ significantly to repeat our already successful smart approach to electricity usage across Ireland and GB. Our team are delighted to now partner with one of Northern Ireland’s leading construction and renewables development companies to fast track that growth. Our shared expertise in renewables and delivering innovative customer solutions for customers across the British Isles will bring lower costs to greener homes and businesses and help people to meet their net zero targets sooner.”

Pictured at TESC’s offices in the Innovation Factory in west Belfast are (l-r) Damien O’Callaghan, Heron Bros; Eddie McGoldrick and Anne Marie McGoldrick from TESC and Emmet Heron, Heron Bros.