Project duration:
OpenDSR is a government funded project looking to demonstrate a concept for domestic demand side response (DSR) and support the development of a business model for the Energy Community Aggregator Service (ECAS), a community owned DSR aggregator and energy service provider.
The OpenDSR project aims to reduce cost and barriers to domestic participation in demand side response (DSR), achieving this through:
- Interoperability – enabling devices, assets and appliances to communicate with each other and external control systems
- Open standards – using a minimum standards-based approach to using DSR products
- Open source – using freely available, standardised base software for controlling and recording DSR calls, dispatches and transactions/payments
- Off the shelf hardware – enabling existing control hardware products/components that meet electrical safety and other industry standards from the outset
The project is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Innovative Domestic DSR Competition – Phase 2. Regen is a project partner alongside Carbon Co-op, Megni OpenEnergyMonitor, Great Places and EV Parts.
The project will test and demonstrate the potential for multiple household energy loads to be controlled remotely to reduce demand at particular times, for example at times of peak electricity demand on either the local electricity network or the national electricity grid. Smart electric vehicle (EV) chargers will be installed in 60 Carbon Co-op members’ homes, and immersion heaters, solar panels and solar diverters will be installed in 40 social households belonging to Great Places in Manchester. Carbon Co-op will aggregate this portfolio of domestic distributed energy resources (DERs) and have an agreement with that householder to be able to:
- optimise when electricity is used to save the householder money if they are on a time-of-use tariff (TOUT)
- directly control household assets and electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment, to participate in existing and upcoming flexibility markets, sending signals to a Home Energy Management System (HEMS), which the householder can override if they don’t want to participate.
The project builds on the ECAS and OpenDSR Phase 1 feasibility studies.
Energy Communities Aggregator Service (ECAS) – Local Flexibility Markets (2018)
OpenDSR Phase 1 Feasibility Report
To find out more about Open DSR or community energy more generally, contact Ky Hoare at khoare@regen.co.uk.
We run regular engagement events for communities that you can view here and we have a special rate for community energy organisations who would like to be members of Regen which can be found here.
