Project Summary
Full Circle addresses Challenge 4: Accelerating decarbonisation of major energy demands. Specifically, it is looking at improving the efficiency of heat networks to make heat networks cheaper and more accessible for everyone. The heating of housing developments and urban communities usually comes from high-carbon, low-efficiency, and high-cost heating sources such as natural gas or resistive electric heating. This project aims to deploy a new industry-leading framework for how heat network developers, property developers and ESCos can operationally and commercially recover low-grade waste heat from DNO transformers to use as an input into their heating networks and deliver lower cost and carbon heating.
The design of the heat recovery from transformers and thermal storage capacities will be at the forefront of energy network innovation as it requires collaboration and agreement between UK Power Networks and multiple parties on complex technical and commercial considerations to be successful. This project requires cross-vector collaboration with industry and community to develop a framework that can be applied across UK Power Networks' regions and across other DNOs.
Full Circle has four key partners:
- UK Power Networks are the DNO for electricity and have been leading multiple innovation projects to increase the resilience and efficiency of its assets and will provide the technical knowledge to support this project.
- Arup is an engineering consultancy that develops innovative heating and energy infrastructure and solutions. They have a wealth of experience developing innovative energy solutions for national regions, cities, and individual developments.
- SGN is a gas distribution network and developer of heat networks. They are perfectly placed for this project as SGN Place are the property development subsidiary of SGN and has a senior living development planned in Wandsworth near UK Power Networks' transformers which will be the demonstrator.
- Wandsworth Council provides planning permission to developments within the council boundaries and has the target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
This project is focused on solving the needs of all the stakeholders in this value chain: the heat network and property developers, the electricity network and finally the end customers. For the heat network developers, ESCos and end customers will benefit from an improved coefficient of performance (COP) for the heating system all year round and reduced costs. The electricity network will benefit from reduced reinforcement costs that also cause construction delays and influence customer energy costs.
Innovation Justification
Full Circle aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of heat by exploring an engineering solution to recover low-grade waste heat from grid transformers to improve heat network efficiencies, coupled with a commercial and operating framework for DNOs to support the development and deliver low-carbon heating to vulnerable and hard to reach consumers. The proposed solution aims to address the high-cost and seasonal inefficiency barriers to heat decarbonisation by providing a one-size-fits-all solution that minimises the infrastructure and energy costs and is suitable for different types of property.
The approach for Full Circle is novel and risky because it will be investigated using a real live environment (Wandsworth Heat Network), bridging the gaps of previous innovation projects in the UK that demonstrated high-level technical feasibility but did not consider its operational and commercial delivery. This needs to be considered to ensure the solution not only is technically feasible but benefits the users and DNOs. The project requires strong cross-vector collaboration and a complex array of partners to achieve success for a demonstrator and to design it with BAU in mind.
Several innovation projects in the UK have looked to solve a similar challenge:
- SSE Heat study case for geothermal/heat extraction, upgrading low-grade heat from aquifers
- DEEP funded project by the GLA and SSE on water-sourced heat pump DHN solution from the river Wandle
- Northern Powergrid Transformer Heat Recovery Project delivered by Arup showed technical feasibility but limited commercial viability due to 2019 market conditions which are changed now.
- SSE and National Grid pilot project to turn electricity transformers into heat network 'boilers'
This project has clear benefits as extracting the heat from the transformer will reduce peak operating temperatures, increasing the asset life cycle. If most of the heat required for the end users comes from the waste transformer heat, then less energy needs to be generated from higher-cost and carbon sources. We will look to forecast the future capital and operating costs, energy consumption and carbon emissions against the counterfactual of Wandsworth's Heat Network operating without heat recovery from transformers.
Full Circle is a demonstrator project that will test a new cross-vector approach to scale waste heat solutions to communities across the UK. SIF is the most suitable funding mechanism because of the phased approach, allowing the partners to conduct technical feasibility of the proposed design and then perform a demonstrator as part of the Beta Phase.
Project Benefits
Quantified percentage target outputs are derived from Arup calculations using 2020 Wandsworth transformer data with an assumption of 50% recovery of transformer heat based on counterfactual heat network assets; to be measured in the Discovery stage feasibility study. Ranges are because of unknown parameters to be quantified in the Discovery stage and timelines to achieve these targets' outputs are end of Beta.
Financial benefits
Reductions in the cost of operating the network will indirectly benefit consumers:
- Target Output: 5-50% reduction in total Operating and Maintenance cost and replacement expenditure for electricity transformer and a reduction in base load requirement compared to counterfactual (without transformer heat recovery).
- Tracking metric assumptions and calculations: Thermal heat loss per transformer and equate this to a forecasted asset lifecycle duration and forecast of reinforcement costs. To be measured against a performance benchmark for these metrics of the transformer without the proposed heating solution.
- Justification for assumptions: The offtake of heat in and back to the transformer should increase the lifecycle of the asset and reduce the need for replacement.
There will be direct cost savings per annum on energy bills for consumers
- Target output: 9-18% reduction on customer bills
- Tracking metric assumptions and calculations: p/kW on consumer tariff for consumers connected to the heat network using recovered heat from the transformer
- Justification for assumptions: Cost savings per annum on energy bills for consumers connected to the heat network are estimated to be between 5%-50%. To be compared against a counterfactual for consumers using a similar heat network without recovered heat.
Environmental benefits
Carbon reduction -- direct CO2 savings per annum will benefit consumers' net zero ambitions
- Target Output: 5-50% reduction in CO2 produced from a heat network
- Tracking metric assumptions and calculations: (Number of kW recovered * CO2 emissions factor)
- Justification for assumptions: Carbon reductions estimate is based on the transformed losses being recovered, ~50% of total losses at the grid emissions factor and assume seasonal recovery and the number of years of the lifecycle. To be measured against a counterfactual transformer and heating system that does not use waste heat.
New revenue streams and services
New business models and commercial cases will be produced.
- New service offering for UK Power Networks and a new channel for off-takers (heat off-take from the transformer) - capacity/connections offering, the design process for heat recovery and bulk heat sale contracts
- Replication of commercial partnering arrangements with site-specific development off-takers.
