A SCOTTISH energy software company is set to almost double the amount of renewable energy that can be generated by customers using its systems in the coming months.
Glasgow-based Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) said yesterday that renewable projects capable of generating a combined 272MW of power will be connected to electricity networks in Europe and the US, with connections to its first deployment in Asia to follow later
The new generators – which include wind turbines, solar panels and other renewable technologies – will take the capacity of SGS’s customers’ assets to a record 573MW.
Its software allows electricity grid operators to connect more renewable generators to their networks by minimising the amount of expensive infrastructure required.
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They help to balance supply and demand, keeping the grid stable while still allowing renewables to be connected.
SGS’s first distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) went live in 2009 and, since then, its customers have generated a total of 5.7TWh of electricity, enough to power 1.5 million Scottish homes for a year – with renewable energy helping to avoid the equivalent emission of 1.85 million tonnes of harmful climate crisis-causing carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere.
That equals the emissions from a million cars in one year.
A total of 521MW of capacity has been connected using SGS software since 2009, with some capacity subsequently switching to more permanent firm grid connections to customers’ benefit, leaving the current total at 301MW.
Since the COP21 climate conference in Paris in 2015, its software has been used to connect a further 217MW of renewable energy capacity to grids around the world.
The company was recently bought by Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi Electric.
Dr Graham Ault, SGS co-founder and executive vice president, said: “Innovations such as these are a key step in empowering local communities to play their role by connecting wind turbines, solar panels, and other devices to their local networks.
“We need big acts from big countries at COP26 over the coming days, but we also need to let smaller communities and smaller energy projects play their part too.”
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The latest figures came as SGS released an update on its own carbon footprint. It has cut its emissions from 241.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (tCO2e) in 2019 to 126 tCO2e estimated to the end of 2021, a 48% drop.
Ault added: “During 2019, we looked at energy use in our Glasgow and New York offices, and business travel, including commuting to and from work. This year, to reflect the changing working practices during the pandemic, we’ve included emissions for staff working from home.
“It’s a complicated picture – because so many of our staff live within public transport commute, cycle and walking distance of our Glasgow and New York offices, the carbon emissions are actually lower if they come into the office, rather than heating and powering their homes using fossil fuels.
“But the figures demonstrate that small businesses like our own can slash their emissions in half, meeting our commitments to working towards our own net zero under the SME Climate Pledge.”
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