October 18th-29th

10:00 Monday 18th October 2021

We start our journey at Northumberland Park bus depot in north London – home to our Bus2Grid project that could turn EV buses into two-way chargers.

V2G (Vehicle 2 Grid) technology enables energy stored in an electric vehicle’s battery to be fed back into the electricity network. By recharging when demand is low and putting energy into the grid when it is high, V2G helps manage the peaks and troughs, balance the network and make it more efficient.

If the entire London bus fleet of around 9,000 vehicles were to be converted with the technology being used in the Bus2Grid project, it could theoretically provide enough energy to supply more than 150,000 homes.

The Bus2Grid project will be led by SSE Energy Solutions with partners including Go-Ahead London, BYD, Leeds University and UK Power Networks. The initial trial uses the batteries of 28 state-of-the-art double decker buses, capable of returning over 1MW energy to the grid.

Bus2Grid will explore both the commercial value and social benefits to the energy and passenger transportation systems by developing services for the national grid, regional distribution network operators, bus operators and transport authorities. The development and test of the underpinning technology is also an important objective of the trial.

10:00 Tuesday 19th October 2021

LOW CARBON INNOVATION

For a roadshow celebrating innovation and collaboration, Oxfordshire represents a key stop-off for our Road to Renewables bus tour.

The county hosts a number of exciting low carbon projects, including Project LEO (Local Energy Oxfordshire), one of the UK’s most ambitious, wide-ranging and innovative energy trials. The project is an excellent example of a cross-sector collaborative project with partners from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), Low Carbon Hub, University of Oxford, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford Brookes University, Piclo, Nuvve, EDF and Origami.

The numerous trials it supports across Oxfordshire use renewable resources, batteries and digital technologies to develop smart energy solutions for local people. With better understanding of supply and demand, improved energy storage and more renewables assets, more informed decisions can be made, from how best to manage heating systems to when it’s cheapest to charge an electric vehicle.

Together the project partners are building a broad range of reliable evidence of the technological, market and social conditions needed for a greener, more flexible and fairer electricity system. Learnings also include what changes need to happen within national and local policy to enable this to happen.

Click here to visit the Project LEO Website

11:00am Wednesday 20th October 2021

Our visit here is to highlight apprentices working in offshore wind. They are driving forward the UK’s efforts to create new jobs and skills.

We’ll hear from two apprentice offshore wind turbine technicians, Jasmine Allen and Braidon Nurse, who trained at the local East Coast college in Energy Skills before applying to join the SSE apprenticeship programme. They have just started the third year of their four-year apprenticeships. They know the importance of their roles in helping tackle climate change and also their hope that more young people consider a career in the renewables industry.

Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm is a joint venture between SSE Renewables (50%) and RWE Renewables (50%). SSE Renewables operates the offshore wind farm.

The 504MW offshore wind farm has been in operation since 2012, generating enough low-carbon renewable energy each year to power the equivalent of over 400,000 UK homes.

Greater Gabbard was a pioneering project for the UK offshore wind industry and for many years the 140-turbine site was the largest wind farm under development world-wide.

Greater Gabbard was awarded development rights from The Crown Estate in 2003. Planning permission was granted four years later, and in 2008 onshore construction work began around Sizewell in Suffolk. Lowestoft was selected as the Operations and Maintenance base in 2009, bringing 100 jobs to the area. Offshore construction began, and in 2011 the first two turbines produced power to the National Grid. All 140 turbines were commissioned and have been producing power since 2012.

The next exciting phase to this wind farm is the Greater Gabbard Extension project, known as North Falls Offshore Wind Farm. Being developed jointly with RWE Renewables, the extension has been awarded an Agreement for Lease for up to 504MW from The Crown Estate. North Falls has the potential to build on Greater Gabbard’s already successful legacy in the East of England.

14:15, Thursday 21st October 2021

Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure project (PIRI) aims to deliver a significant drop in CO2 emissions by 2030, while cutting energy bills by up to a quarter. Peterborough is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK and is facing a significant increase in energy demand as the city continues to grow.

The two-year project has been granted funding from UK Research and Innovation, alongside corporate investment, to design a low carbon, smart energy system for the city. The partnership includes Peterborough City Council, SSE Enterprise, Element Energy, Cranfield University, Smarter Grid Solutions and Sweco UK.

PIRI combines a next generation heat network, electricity network and electric vehicle infrastructure under one smart holistic scheme. If successful, the scheme could be rolled out to other cities and towns, to help the UK realise its ambitions of Net Zero by 2050.

The project over the next two years will deliver cleaner, cheaper energy and the benefits of the scheme include:

• Locally produced, cleaner energy and heat from waste and with services being low carbon driven
• Multi-utility infrastructure delivery, meaning lower costs and lower bills for consumers
• Integrated billing and service for heat, electricity and mobility (such as electric vehicle charging) so customers can benefit
• Low carbon technology made available at cost-effective connection cost
• Transparent tariff setting will generate long-term savings for local authorities
• The PIRI project brings together energy generation, demand and storage, thereby unlocking efficiencies not deliverable under existing, traditional energy systems. It is envisaged to be especially effective in areas where the electricity network is constrained; as well serving as a blueprint for other urban locations across the UK.

Elliot Smith, PIRI Programme Lead at Peterborough City Council, explains; “This is a highly innovative project – one of the most ambitious nationally and one which could become the most significant in the UK’s transition to low carbon infrastructure. For Peterborough, it has substantial benefits and supports the sustainable growth of the city.”

25th October 2021

A new Energy Innovation Agency (EIA) to be established between three Greater Manchester universities, local government and industry was announced on 24th September with the aim of kick-starting a decade of clean energy innovation to meet the region’s 2038 carbon neutral target.

The proposal to form the unique new local agency was announced at the Greater Manchester Green Summit. The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Salford will apply their energy and environmental research expertise working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and SSE Enterprise to ensure Manchester continues to lead on ambitious regional environmental innovation and action.

10:30am Thursday 28th October 2021

With up to 4.1GWs of potential clean capacity Home to Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm Located in the North Sea, in the outer Firth of Forth, Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm has the potential to deliver up to 4.1 GW of installed capacity, making it one of the largest offshore opportunities in the world. 

Berwick Bank Wind Farm is in the early stages of development and is being taken forward by SSE Renewables. The proposal is approximately 40km off the coast of East Lothian.

10:00am Friday 29th October 2021

As the world comes together for COP26 we arrive in the place where it will all be taking place.

We will be part of a joint celebration with First Bus as they complete a key phase of their Glasgow Caledonia EV bus depot, which will become the largest of its kind in the UK once fully complete.

The EV infrastructure being installed there by SSE Energy Solutions will power 150 new EV buses for Glasgow by the end of this year; helping to create cleaner air for the city centre and a lasting legacy for Scotland.