The RED WoLF Project: Cutting Costs and Carbon Emissions

by Hannah Wintle

An EU-funded project is cutting energy costs and decarbonising European homes by installing hybrid storage systems.

The RED WoLF project, which stands for ‘Rethink Electricity Distribution Without Load Following’, is currently running six pilots in the UK, Ireland, France, and Luxembourg.

With a total budget of €6.06 million, Interreg North-West Europe has provided €3.64 million in funding for the project.

Pilot homes with photovoltaic solar panels have been fitted with a smart controller which communicates with a hybrid storage system, merging battering and storage heaters.

While the heaters supply heat on demand, the batteries store low-carbon energy drawn from the national grid at times of low demand, as well as the solar panel’s output.

Algorithms within the smart technology enable communication with the grid, as well as taking half-hourly energy pricing input to provide electrical heating at a cost comparable to gas.

Approximately 100 houses are being utilised across the six pilots, with a total estimated reduction in carbon emissions by 215 tonnes/year.

There is potential for national decarbonisation

In communicating with the grid, the mismatch between energy generation and usage will be eliminated.

Currently, any energy that is generated but not used is often wasted, but during times of high demand, energy from renewable sources cannot be relied upon alone. In these instances, high-carbon, ‘load following’ power plants are activated to meet demand.

Stored energy within RED WoLF’s hybrid storage solutions, however, provides an alternative, cleaner solution than relying on these power plants.

If more houses install these hybrid storage systems, the peak in demand would be far lessened, as household energy consumption during these times would be facilitated by stored energy.

Reducing the need to turn on load following power plants means that carbon emissions are drastically reduced, as renewable sources of energy are utilised to a greater degree.

Dr Giuseppe Colantuono, Creator and Lead Partner of the RED WoLF project, said: “This also creates more room for renewable electricity on the grid.

“This would be more and more important because this waste of green energy, if we don't take action, will become even stronger in the years to come.”

Social housing stands to gain from this technology

Tenants of social housing, who are often on lower incomes, face a higher threat of fuel poverty, emphasising the importance of keeping energy bills down.

RED WoLF can combat this by heating homes more efficiently and economically. Stored energy is cheaper than using energy from the grid at peak times as it reduces costs by the local distribution network operators and eases the energy demand.

Andrew Hunt, Green Energy and Sustainability Manager at Oldham Council, emphasised that in addition to keeping bills down, the REDWoLF system is a straightforward system to deploy at scale.

He said: “Apart from the controller itself, the RED WoLF systems that we’ve installed have always been fairly standard equipment.

“Storage heaters, solar PV, battery storage, these are all things you can get hold of easily and a lot of installers are already familiar with these technologies.

“The part they have to be upskilled on is relatively small, so the contractors that social housing organisations normally use could be easily trained up to do this.”

Smart technology presents a learning curve for some

While promising results have been observed so far among the pilots, the need for education among residents has been highlighted.

In one of the pilots in Oldham, the equipment was installed during the pandemic, and there was no opportunity for face-to-face explanations. Instead, residents were given information packs.

Some residents grasped the technology well and saw a significant reduction in their energy bills, while others struggled to adapt.

Explanatory leaflets based on lessons learned throughout the pilot could provide a solution to ensure that everyone is able to access the benefits of the new technology in their homes.

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Further funding for a future-proof roll out

With funding until September 2023, the project partners are currently looking into commercialisation options, eager to bring this cutting-edge technology to homes in North West Europe on a broader scale.

Andrew Hunt explained that rolling out this technology on a mass scale would need further financing, perhaps in the form of a government grant.

The UK Government’s Green Homes Grant previously enabled applicants to make energy-efficient improvements to their homes, but he expressed hope that further grants will be expanded to make other technologies eligible, such as RED WoLF.

Andrew also commented on the public’s readiness to embrace this kind of technology.

He said: “There are already some basic storage systems that you can buy, like a battery which will store some energy from your solar panel.

“People are already getting familiar with the idea of having a battery in their house, connected to their solar panels to make the most of the financial benefit of solar panels.

“But there is nothing out there that’s as sophisticated as the RED WoLF system.” Though commercialisation and the route to market are still being contemplated by those involved with the project, the success of the pilots has generated confidence in the system’s aptitude for a wider rollout.