How we’re enabling interoperability in DSR
Demand-side response (DSR) uses the flexibility in how and when a customer’s device consumes or produces energy to balance the grid and create additional revenues. As DSR has matured and markets have grown, so too has interest to standardise the systems that provide DSR and enable interoperability in order to increase customer choice and freedom.
Our IREF project placed Centrica at the forefront of the UK’s efforts - validating a draft British standard proposed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), who also funded the team’s work. By adapting Centrica’s existing DSR platform to comply with the standard (known as PAS 1878 and PAS 1879), IREF tested how well smart devices, such as storage heaters or connected hot water tanks, would operate against any compliant DSR provider. We checked a range of activities including, most importantly, how the system and connected devices respond to a signal from the markets that the grid was imbalanced. By adapting our system and testing these sorts of use cases we confirmed how clear and practical the standard was and identified ways to improve it, which we fed back to DESNZ and the British Standard Institution.
The bigger picture
Through IREF, Centrica was one of two energy suppliers to engage with DESNZ’ Interoperable DSR stream, part of their Flexibility Innovation Programme (FIP). FIP sits within the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) and seeks to enable large-scale, widespread electricity system flexibility through smart, flexible, secure and accessible technologies and markets.
IREF was rolled out in three phases:
Phase One - Development
- Design and development of the services including adaptation of existing DSR platform
- Development of infrastructure
- Internal testing against simulated devices
Phase Two – Lot 1 testing
- Lab testing with external partner (Engage Consulting) using GlenDimplex and Mixergy devices
- PAS1878 compliance testinga
- Registration, baseline operation scenarios
Phase Three – Lot 2 testing
- Lab testing by external partner (Resillion)
- Real test use cases
- Real devices by real partners
- Intended operation and response to markets
Provisional plans, hardware and software and feedback reports were delivered to DESNZ in phases 2 and 3.
Examples of our learnings and feedback
- The standards require ESA manufacturers to model energy consumption in a way that is technically beyond many manufacturers’ capabilities and priorities today.
- There are strong limitations on how a device’s energy flexibility should be represented reducing how optimally the flexibility can be used in different markets by the DSRSP.
- Using OpenADR 2 as the backbone for communication means more data is exchanged than necessary due to its use of Extensible Markup Language (XML).
- The standard is at times overly prescriptive and others too loose and ambiguous.
Outcomes of our work:
- Led the IREF consortium as developers of Demand-Side Response Services and Customer Energy Management, deepening our relationship with Mixergy and Glen Dimplex, manufacturers of Energy Smart Appliances, to complete the research.
- Future-proofed the Centrica DSR platform: Should the proposed standard become widely adopted the adaptations developed here give us a leg up to accommodate the standard quickly.
- Developed virtual device simulators: To prepare for laboratory tests, we created virtual simulation devices for electric storage heaters, electric heating, heat pumps, and electric vehicles, that can be reused for other purposes.
- Cemented industry-leading position: Via this project, Centrica entered the Energy Smart Appliance technical working group of DESNZ and the British Standards Institution’s steering group of PAS. We also presented feedback at an international conference that will support the development of OpenADR 3.0