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Test facility will accelerate energy network innovation in real time

Lucy Dixon
14.02.2022

Energy Systems Catapult’s Living Lab and the University of Strathclyde’s PNDC will receive £2.5 million from the Scottish Governments’ Green Jobs Fund, to support and accelerate the development of the Whole Energy Systems Accelerator (WESA).

WESA is described as an energy innovation test and evaluation facility, enabling interactions between homes, energy networks, and market & policy frameworks to be tested in real-time and across a range of potential future energy system and market scenarios.
It combines Energy Systems Catapult’s real world test environment of over 500 digitally connected homes – the Living Lab – with PNDC’s whole energy systems demonstration facilities to enable the acceleration of energy innovations that will be needed to support the delivery of Net Zero emissions.
WESA combines the partners’ energy systems innovation across electrical power systems, cybersecurity capabilities, whole energy system expertise, and consumer-focused capabilities. This makes it possible to test the physics, human behaviour, technology, and market aspects of new energy solutions concurrently and rapidly, thereby supporting the creation of a robust and affordable Net Zero energy system that considers consumers’ needs.The Scottish Government is supporting WESA with £2.5 million from the Green Jobs Fund. Scottish Government support will contribute to:

  • Creating a ‘Living Lab Scotland’ of 300 homes and linking these to PNDC to enable network interactions to be understood and managed.
  • Building out new capability at PNDC to enable integrated WESA trials incorporating heat, transport and hydrogen systems and the assessment of their interactions with consumer-end solutions.
  • Supporting and accelerating new innovations to market by providing access for innovators to trials.
  • Accelerating the roll out of low carbon programmes by providing rich consumer insight and assessing the network impacts of wider deployment.

Richard Knight, Director for Strategy and Technology at PNDC, said: “WESA industrial partners will be drawn from the heat, transport, electricity and communications sectors, delivering an unparalleled mix of technology and commercial expertise to steer WESA operations and provide routes to commercial exploitation. In addition to Scottish Government support, significant private sector interest is emerging from large energy companies, technology and equipment developers, SMEs and consumer groups.

By drawing on existing facilities and the highly-skilled researchers and academics across the PNDC and the University of Strathclyde, WESA will be scaled quickly – enabling a programme of innovator support and policy design that will start to deliver impact during 2022.”

Rebecca Sweeney, Living Lab Business Lead at Energy Systems Catapult, said:“WESA will enable the real-world assessment and de-risking of new consumer solutions, smart energy network systems, and the business models needed to support them.

“WESA is a huge step forward in the way we work with consumers to design the future Net Zero energy system. WESA will ensure consumer preferences and inclusive design principles are embedded in system design. By including a diverse range of consumers, including those in vulnerable circumstances in the facility and research programme we will ensure their voices are heard and the solutions we develop support a just transition.”