Thameswey puts energy into Project FALCON

WPD is delighted to announce the support of Thameswey Energy, through their partners Flexitricity, in agreeing to particpate in Project FALCON's Demand Response (DR) trial.

The WPD trial works with businesses to reduce their electricity use or shift their use to lower demand at certain times of the day. Thameswey operates a heat and electricity network in central Milton Keynes supplied by 6MW of Combined Heat and Power and is responsible for supplying power and heat to a thousand households and a number of large corporate buildings in Milton Keynes including Network Rail’s headquarters, a Sainsbury supermarket, and numerous small businesses and restaurants. Thameswey supplies nearly 20,000 MWh of low carbon electricity per year which it distributes via its private wire network and to the local grid.

Sean Rendall from Thameswey Energy was delighted to be involved. She said: "This Project is a step towards supporting the UK’s move to a lower carbon economy. Thameswey was one of the first major UK developers of low carbon district energy and is keen to work with other innovators within the energy industry."

Ron Ramage, Flexitricity’s CEO commented: "Through our existing relationship with Energy Partners such as Thameswey we are pleased to support WPD in delivering this innovative project. The techniques being developed throughout this trial will increase knowledge and improve flexibility within WPD’s network. Flexitricity’s relationship with both Thameswey and WPD makes this a perfect fit."

Gary Swandells, Commercial Trials Lead at WPD stated: "One of the keys to the trials success is identifying customers who have the ability to carry on with their own business without being disrupted by instructions to moderate their load on the network or increase generation. With organisations such as Thameswey joining the scheme, it presents a mutually beneficial opportunity to work smarter. By reducing the network load during critical peak periods, WPD can defer or even avoid expensive reinforcement upgrades that would otherwise be required, and ultimately be paid for by consumers through their electricity bills."

If you would like to find out more about WPD’s Low Carbon Network DR trial, visit our Project FALCON pages or contact Commercial Trials Lead, Gary Swandells.