ongoing

The sECUre project activities will focus on deploying a fully realised Energy Community in the Aran Islands

Project Insights

  • €446,212

    Total Project Costs
  • 3 yr

    Project Duration
  • 2019

    Year Funded

Project Description

The sECUre project activities will focus on deploying a fully realised Energy Community in the Aran Islands, as a practical proof of Community Grids with no impact on the stability to the national grid. Keeping this pilot activity at the core, a set of enabling technologies will be advanced and deployed to optimise the design and management of distributed generation and flexibility assets. The project will start with the pilot setup, with CFOAT engaging a core of local prosumers (residential, public, commercial) to identify the potential of a Community Grid in Aran. Community planning software, developed by coordinator IES, will be crucial in this phase, to evaluate the flexibility available in the community and to analyse scenarios for local generation and storage assets pre-installation to optimise the solution from both technical and cost aspects. The installed Community production, storage and flexibility will then be managed in real time by the MPOWER Community Grid System, which will enable intra-community power matching. The potential for future trading, within the community or aggregated to trade with the wholesale market will also be assessed. ESBN will be engaged in the project from the start to ensure that the pilot fully aligns with the national grid standards and needs. The expected outcome is the proposal for new regulations and MoUs allowing the market deployment of innovative concepts and business models demonstrated in the project, namely the Energy Community Utility (ECU) and community-owned generation, for their uptake across Ireland and the EU.

Project Details

Total Project Cost: €446,212

Funding Agency: SEAI

Year Funded: 2019

Lead Organisation: IES R&D

Partner Organisation(s): Smart Mpower; MEGA; CFOAT

Collaborators: ESB Networks; Community Renewable Energy Supply (CRES)

Ruth Kerrigan

Lead Researcher