Grid and Transmission

Eco Power Wins Grant from Innovate UK for Micro-grid Project in Thailand

Eco Wave Power Gibraltar, a subsidiary of leading global wave energy developer Eco Wave Power, has announced the approval of a grant project budget of 296,787 GBP by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

The grant is provided as part of the Energy Catalyst Round 8: Clean Energy, an experimental development competition for a project titled “Sea Wave Energy Powered Microgrid for Remote Islands and Rural Coasts”, to be executed in collaboration with the UK Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) of Thailand.

The 296,787 GBP grant budget will be used by the parties for the performance of feasibility studies and joint research and design of a wave powered micro-grid system with the intent of testing the innovative solution on certain islands in Thailand in the future.

The grant funding will be divided among the parties in accordance with each party’s contribution to the project, and Eco Wave Power will be granted 103,993 GBP and will contribute additional 44,569 GBP, making the total budget for Eco Wave Power’s activity equal to 148,562 GBP. The Grant Offer Letter will be signed between the parties subject to a finance review and submission of additional documentation.

Inna Braverman, Founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power commented, “This grant from Innovate UK is a third grant approval notice that we received during The Month of June, with the first one being the 178,500 Euro grant from the EU as part of the ILIAD Consortium and the second is the grant from the Wohl Clean Growth Alliance.”

“We are extremely grateful to Innovate UK for such a grant, as this project presents a unique opportunity for us to research a new technology application for our WEC, customized for islands and other micro grid applications, which are a significant target market for Eco Wave Power,” she added.

Tata Power & US firm AutoGrid to Deploy Smart Energy Management System in Delhi

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited is partnering with California-based AutoGrid to deploy an artificial intelligence based smart energy management system in Delhi.

The two companies are jointly launching a behavioural demand response program for the former’s residential customers to reduce peak demand and network capital costs. This pilot project aims to empower customers, by helping them understand their consumption patterns and evaluate the effectiveness of demand response (DR) programs. Demand Response (DR) programs aim to shift energy consumption from peak hours of the day to leaner demand periods by offering environmental and economic incentives to the consumers for their cooperation.

Participating customers can stay in control of their consumption, and voluntarily choose to turn down nonessential loads to reduce total load at peak times. In this way they will also be able to optimize their monthly electricity bills.

To measure the acceptability of this program and increase customer participation, Tata Power will also provide attractive incentives to customers based on the level of their participation in the pilot program. The results of the pilot will then be shared with the state regulator (DERC) to formulate appropriate incentives which can be applicable for all customers.

“Through this pilot program, we intend to give more control in the hands of the consumers… This initiative will support our mission to build a resourceefficient, greener electrical grid through smart tech integration,” said Mr. Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, Tata PowerDDL, in a press statement.

In the first phase, the program will be initiated for a period of 3 months, from 1st July to 30th September 2021 with 4,000 residential consumers with smart meter connections. Interested consumers would be informed a day in advance via email, SMS and calls. Based on the acceptance and success of the pilot, the program will also be extended in a phased manner to the following areas:

Automated Demand Response leveraging Residential Air Conditioning Systems and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system at Commercial and Industrial sites

Integration of Energy Storage, Solar PV, Electrical Vehicles and other DERs for grid balancing and stabilization

Microgrids and Site Optimization for Energy-as-aService (EaaS) applications

Commercial & Industrial Site optimization for Energy-as-aService (EaaS)

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Tata Power-DDL to bring pioneering solutions to their customer base by leveraging our best in class energy platform,” said Mr. Amit Narayan, CEO, AutoGrid. “With this strategic partnership we aim to demonstrate the value of DR and DERs for the expansion of renewable energy in India and realization of a decarbonized society while meeting the ambitions of a fast growing economy,” he added.