Switch2 Energy has been selected as a partner in Project Rewire-NW, which has won a share of £21m of funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for ten ground-breaking smart UK energy projects.
Rewire- NW, which is led by community energy and sustainability charity Pure Leapfrog, will design a smart local energy system for Warrington, which has the future potential to be rolled out beyond Cheshire to other parts of the UK.
The £2.8m, two-year project will be jointly funded by UKRI and the 12 project partners, who have been drawn from across the energy industry, local government and academia. Together, they will assess ways of optimising the current energy infrastructure in Warrington, and bring forward proposals to adapt it to be able to deliver average cost savings of 25 per cent and create a pathway to net zero.
Switch2 will be part of the team that explores feasibility and design of a local heat network. This will be a key component of Rewire-NW, which will address the whole energy system across the entire Warrington borough, including energy heat and transport.
By using 5G and data-centric intelligence, the project will drive the local energy systems towards lower costs and lower carbon outcomes.
Claire Hanratty, CEO Pure Leapfrog, said: “Project Rewire gives us a unique opportunity to secure a seat at the table for community energy, when designing the next generation of low carbon energy systems. This will ensure that future energy systems will have to consider their social impact as well as environmental and that the energy transition is a ‘just transition’.”
UKRI also announced the winners of the Key Technology Components for Local Energy Systems competition, which share a further £4.5m, together with an additional £22m of funding to enable research on global energy challenges and their implications for the UK.
