Nation's fridges "could cut need for 2GW power plant"
Monday 04 August 2008
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| Dynamic Demand could make better use of the "stored energy" that exists within millions of fridges in UK homes and businesses |
Clever software fitted to the nation's fridges could cut the need for a 2,000MW power station, according to its developers, writes James Cartledge.
The so-called "Dynamic Demand" technology could help to alleviate strain on the UK's electricity network at times of peak demand - cutting the need for fossil fuel-powered reserve generation capacity.
London-based company RLtec told New Energy Focus on Thursday that it is close to signing deals with a major white goods manufacturer to incorporate the system into its products, as well as attracting a major supermarket in the UK to potentially deploy the technology in its stores.
There are hopes that the system could count towards energy suppliers' carbon-cutting obligations under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme.
The technology works by each individual fridge assessing the current demand on the national grid - by measuring the frequency of power flowing through the lines - and reacting accordingly. If there is too much demand for power, fridges that are cooling down will switch off slightly early.
The combined effect of thousands of fridges managing their power usage more effectively - responding in a matter of seconds - could help balance out supply and demand across the national grid without the need for stand-by power plants, RLtec said.
This would mean a reduction in the more than £500 million spent each year on the nation's "spinning reserve" of power plants servicing peak demand levels.
The company's sales and marketing director, Paul Lazarevic said: "Short-term balancing costs are now rising to around £544 million in 2008/09 - and that could put as much as £5 on your electricity bill. RLtec's Dynamic Demand replaces the balancing you need on the demand side, rather than on the supply side - giving you a non-carbon emitting, more energy-secure system of balancing the grid," he explained.
If the Dynamic Demand technology is widely deployed, power plants currently running below capacity could run at a more optimum level - meaning less fuel is wasted. This would suit a new generation of nuclear plants in the UK, since nuclear facilities prefer to operate at a constant level, and cannot easily respond to changing demand levels.
"Two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year is wasted by power stations operating sub-optimally," Mr Lazarevic said.
Further carbon-reduction benefits of the system are also seen, Mr Lazarevic explained, because during peak periods, extra power would not need to be brought in from remote stand-by power stations, meaning less power being lost in transmission.
Intermittency
Mr Lazarevic was explaining the system on Thursday, just ahead of the publication of a new report from consultancy Pöyry, which suggested that more efforts to cope with electricity demand could cut out the need for new conventional power plants altogether (see this New Energy Focus story).
The RLtec director suggested that another use for the Dynamic Demand system could be to help manage the intermittency of new renewable energy generation capacity on the network, including the impact of thousands of expected new wind turbines in the UK.
As well as cutting out periods of high demand, the technology can also balance out surges of power by acting to switch appliances on early, and turning them off later than normal.
The RLtec director said that with as many as three million household fridges being replaced every year, the entire nation could host Dynamic Demand appliances by 2020.
The technology also works with appliances other than fridges, including air conditioners and heating systems - working best with equipment that switches itself on and off within certain parameters, such as a temperature range.
Trials
RLtec is now coming to the end of a trial of the system using 100 fridges in Europe.
Retailers that have green agendas have also got lots of stored energy in the form of fridges, heating and pumping systems, and air-conditioning
The way the system works, a fridge does not ever go outside the accepted range of temperature required to maintain the state of its contents, Mr Lazarevic insisted. The Dynamic Demand system alters only the timing of the activity of a number of fridges, corresponding to the amount of extra power needed on the system.
As well as the domestic sector, RLtec is attracting interest from businesses such as retailers, which may have large-scale fridges operating around the clock.
Although the system does not make a difference to an individual household or business carbon footprint, Mr Lazarevic said retailers in particular were interested in taking part because of the positive contribution the technology could make towards Corporate Social Responsibility.
He suggested it could be immensely complicated to calculate the actual carbon savings an individual business could achieve. But in the era of supermarket "green wars", he said for a retailer to be part of the scheme could bring "significant" marketing benefits.
The RLtec director said: "It's a great green angle for them - those retailers that have green agendas now have also got lots of stored energy in the form of fridges, heating and pumping systems, and air-conditioning."
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