Electricity grid used as communications channel as UK moves closer to 'virtual power station' and smart cities age

Energy technologies business Reactive Technologies said its "nationwide transmission of data entirely via the electricity grid", in a project undertaken in partnership with the National Grid and SSE, was a "world-first". The near two-year testing which ended in March this year was funded by UK energy regulator Ofgem.

The system uses new technology to send messages to appliances with a smart plug connected to the mains.

Experts in energy law at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the test was a step towards the creation of a "virtual power station" and indicated that the UK was moving closer to a demand side response (DSR) approach to energy consumption.

In a statement, Reactive explained how its grid data and measurement system (GDMS) technology works. It said the technology "allows connected devices to share information and enables remote control and measurement of electrical assets across electricity networks".

Reactive said: "Connected devices send and receive data across the electricity network through minute and subtle changes made to the grid frequency by modulating the power consumption of transmitting devices. These ‘on’ and ‘off’ or frequency changes create a unique code. Receivers, embedded in the plugs of devices, such as freezers, hot water tanks and air conditioning equipment, are programmed to detect these frequency changes."

"Receiving devices then identify and decode the messages, which automatically tell the device to carry out a particular instruction, for example, to tell the device to take action such as turn down or turn off according to a schedule, or based on grid frequency changes. GDMS allows for faster, automated responses from assets so they can be used for higher value, system-critical, load-balancing services like frequency response," it said.

The company said it wants to build commercial partnerships to bring the technology into operation across the UK and overseas.

Becca Aspinwall of Pinsent Masons described the successful test as a "significant step towards the creation of a virtual power station" and "a boost for smart cities and the evolution of electricity markets".

She said. "DSR has been available in the commercial market for a number of years now, with National Grid launching a B2B contract last year. However, scaling up in the domestic market has been seen as a longer-term goal due to upfront costs and lack of flexible appliances. How such a technology would dovetail with smart metering is yet to be seen. This could be an opportunity for supplementing domestic targets set by government for behavioural change, carbon reduction and energy supply security."

Nick Shenken of Pinsent Masons said the ability of individual appliances to 'talk' to and respond to the needs of the wider energy system could potentially offer "tangible benefits" to consumers, businesses and those operating the National Grid.

Shenken said: "Customers could participate in DSR in a really flexible way. They could easily choose which appliances they want to use for DSR, cut their energy costs and potentially also benefit from additional revenue streams. For the grid, there’s an opportunity to find a more affordable way to manage the situation should extra capacity be required when the safety cushion of supply is dangerously low and a Notification of Inadequate System Margin (NISM) has to be issued."

"The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit’s report (14-page / 875KB PDF) issued earlier this week highlights exactly that point – it found that the use of DSR could have reduced the cost of last November’s NISM by more than 20%," he said. "However we still need a user friendly, transparent way to pay consumers for participating in DSR as well as incentives for third party aggregators and other innovators to ramp up participation in the DSR market and promote its use by as many electricity users as possible."

Marc Borret, chief executive of Reactive, said that Europe's energy market is moving "to a model that will be determined by … decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation".

"In the past the energy sector has drawn upon mechanical and electrical engineering skills to meet its technical needs," Borret said. "Now it is time for change. We are bringing highly innovative communications engineering capabilities to the energy space, offering radically different solutions that can address the critical issues facing our energy networks. In GDMS, our communications engineers have invented a truly disruptive technology which has the potential to benefit many stakeholders across the energy supply chain." 

Cordi O’Hara director of UK system operator at National Grid, said the organisation is "keen to support innovative products".

"This groundbreaking project … represents another step forward in the development of the smart grid technologies that are going to play an increasingly important role in the energy systems of the future," O'Hara said. "National Grid signed up to the scheme as part of its work to support innovative ways to help balance supply and demand and also provide benefits to customers. Technology that allows devices to communicate quickly will help encourage ‘demand side’ solutions that encourage efficient use of energy and will increasingly become part of the way the grid is managed."