Campus decarbonisation creates new challenges for estates managers - could energy storage help solve them? Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy, explains more.
Efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy bills have naturally had a positive impact on campus carbon emissions. However, with the low-hanging fruit now all picked, how can estates managers continue to deliver decarbonisation
One technology increasingly being deployed on education estates is battery energy storage systems (BESS), as they can be used to solve several challenges at once. These include accessing cheaper and greener energy from the grid, optimising solar installations, and supporting vehicle electrification strategies.
Flexibility
A BESS is essentially multiple battery packs combined within a shipping container and controlled by an intelligent management system. It acts as a reservoir, storing energy during times of low demand and providing it during peak periods. This can provide a great deal of flexibility when it comes to both energy management and decarbonisation.
In isolation, a BESS can help in two ways. The intelligent management system can be programmed to buy energy from the grid when it is at its cheapest – such as off-peak tariffs – or at its greenest, for later use. This means you can use a BESS to reduce your carbon emissions from energy and also cut your electricity bills.
Furthermore, for those sites which have rooftop solar, a BESS can also add significant value. Solar providers are experts at right-sizing a PV installation to meet your energy requirements – but demand fluctuations can make this tricky, particularly as you start adding more high load infrastructure such as EV chargers or heat pumps. This can leave you with an excess of energy you can’t use, and ending up with a solar surplus extends the payback period for PV.
At Connected Energy we worked with one client on a multi-building site who was having to give 15% of their solar energy back to the grid. After installing an energy storage system, they were able to capture that surplus and use it to power their building and charge their electric vans overnight.
Generating your own energy on site reduces reliance on the grid while also addressing a growing problem when it comes to fleet electrification: grid constraints.
Capacity challenge
A key pillar in decarbonisation strategies is electrification – but as this gathers pace, it could actually see energy usage start to rise again on your sites. The reason for this is that the next phase of electrification requires the installation of high load infrastructure.
The main culprit here is electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. A standard 7kW charger has the equivalent energy consumption of 30-40 desktop computers per hour – and you can more than treble this for a 22kW EV charger. However, another example would be if you are looking at heat pumps – great for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but they require a substantial amount of electricity.
With an increase in site energy consumption, three little letters are starting to give estates managers headaches: MIC. This stands for Maximum Import Capacity, which is the cap on how much energy your premises can draw down from the grid. Essentially, MICs exist because a lot of locations are on a shared connection; these limits ensure that you don’t leave your neighbours short by drawing down too much electricity.
If you start installing a significant number of EV chargers, you’re likely to breach your MIC. This will result in substantial surcharges on your energy bills. In some instances, your local grid connection might have sufficient headroom for you to pay to increase your MIC and avoid these fees. But more often it is not possible because our grid was simply not designed to support EV charging. In this instance, you’re looking at paying a hefty cost to your distribution network operator (DNO) to upgrade your grid connection. Along with being expensive, there are often long waiting lists as lots of public and commercial premises are trying to tackle the same issue at once.
The business case for grid capacity constraints is one of the most compelling uses for BESS: If your DNO is quoting costs of more than £250,000 to upgrade your grid connection, then a BESS is a much more cost-effective option. Equally, if you are facing high fees in surcharges for breaching your MIC then consider a BESS as an alternative.
Managing microgrids
With more infrastructure both generating and drawing down power, on campus, things can get complex quite quickly. In these instances, the intelligent management system on a BESS can be used as part of your microgrid, integrating those energy assets with your infrastructure. And ultimately, microgrids help secure your site’s energy resilience by removing or reducing reliance on the grid.
Case study: A microgrid for new Bristol campus
Transforming a former coal shed and headquarters of a gas company into an example of smart sustainability is a truly fitting metaphor for decarbonisation.
The redevelopment of The Sheds in Bristol is part of a collaboration between the University of Bristol and its partners to breathe new life into the city’s Temple Quarter. The university is creating the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, which will be home to 4,600 students and 650 university staff. The first occupant of the campus is Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI) in the 200-year-old Coal Shed and Retort House. Located behind Temple Meads Station, the site is being reimagined to include unique specialist digital research facilities, workspaces, collaboration areas and a substantial data centre.
As part of the development, BDFI received a £2.5 million Net Zero grant from Research England’s UK Research Partnership Investment Fund to reduce carbon emissions from the site. The grant will also provide a research testbed and enable BDFI and researchers from across the university and sustainability teams to explore how research facilities can incorporate and optimise such measures to deliver their ambitious net zero targets.
Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy, said: “Our brief was to support BDFI in their vision to power the building using the greenest energy available. As the site is home to a large data centre, which is operating 24/7, the ability to store energy was critical in helping to meet this vision.”
Intelligent microgrid
The solution was two E-STOR systems from Connected Energy, a leading provider of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Each E-STOR has a 360kWh capacity and an intelligent management system that is designed to provide the fulcrum between the grid, on-site renewables, and the premises. This enables BDFI to power the building using the greenest available energy. Connected Energy’s management system controls the storage and discharge of energy at the most optimum times of the day.
“The addition of battery energy storage enables BDFI to reduce the carbon intensity of its energy consumption to its lowest possible point,” added Matthew. “E-STOR stores greener power throughout the day – either from the solar array or the grid - to be used at times when renewable generation is low and the energy available from the grid is not at its cleanest.”
Dr Jenny Knapp, Director Programmes & Operations at Bristol Digital Futures Institute, said: “The University hopes that the microgrid and its battery energy storage will help us to maximise our use of clean power. The project is not only driven by these net zero ambitions but also the opportunity to use our site and the microgrid system as a research facility and share our learning with other data centres and research facilities more widely.”
Second life benefits
Connected Energy was chosen for the project because of its unique approach to energy storage systems. Rather than use new batteries in its E-STOR units, the company repurposes batteries from end-of-life electric vehicles (EVs). These batteries can still have up to 80% of their original energy storage capacity, making E-STOR an ideal way to give them a second life. In this way, E-STOR is much less carbon intensive than systems that use new batteries.
As part of the project, Connected Energy is working closely with the university to ensure that its systems support ongoing research and software modelling of microgrids. The company’s data team is working with PhD students to evaluate the systems. Furthermore, Connected Energy has also provided a second life battery to the University’s Energy Futures Lab which will be involved in simulations of different scenarios relating to optimising battery performance.
“The use of second life batteries in the Connected Energy systems was integral to our overall goals by immediately demonstrating carbon savings when compared to a system which uses new batteries,” added Dr Knapp. “Connected Energy also understood the importance of the research element of this project and have been open with their contributions and support towards this.”
Next steps
Connected Energy has produced a free white paper on energy storage for facilities and estates managers, which can be downloaded here: https://connected-energy.co.uk/whitepapers/battery-energy-storage-for-facilities-management/.
Alternatively, to talk to Connected Energy about a feasibility study for your campus, contact 0191 495 7321 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..