On 3 April, The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) announced that the first phase of a £28.5mn ReFLEX (Responsive Flexibility) project to create a Virtual Energy System in Orkney has been launched. The ‘first-of-its-kind’ project will interlink various energy assets and services into one controllable system.
The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and is being led by the EMEC. It also brings together a consortium of Orkney-based partners, including: Solo Energy, Aquatera, Community Energy Scotland, Heriot-Watt University and Orkney Islands Council.
The thrust of the project is to demonstrate flexible energy balancing technologies and aims to deploy domestic and business batteries, electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid chargers, flexible heating systems, a hydrogen fuel cell and an e-bike integrated transport system.
UK Government Minister Lord Duncan said: “Scotland is at the forefront of smart energy which is key to the UK Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. With £14.3mn of UK Government funding going to the ReFLEX project in Orkney, we are helping to establish the Scottish Islands as an energy powerhouse.”
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