Decentralised Energy Centres
Decentralised energy centres (DECs) are localised systems that generate, store and manage your energy on-site, removing reliance on a central power grid. This type of energy solution allows you to control your own energy production, reducing your costs and supporting your sustainability goals.
What is a DEC?
Within the industry, a DEC may also be referred to as a small-scale micro-grid. This is a local, client-owned power production plant that is independent from any national grid, providing businesses with complete flexibility to generate the power they need. A DEC can come in a number of forms such as a large-scale solar PV, wind turbines and micro-hydro turbines. At the core of a DEC are commercial scale battery packs which allows a DEC to create its own energy source, acting much like a National Grid connection. Following the advancements in Lithium-Ion Phosphate technology and the reduction in the cost of materials, the market has opened up to make this technology available to a wide range of sectors and independent premises. Depending on your unique requirements, our team will identify the best type of DEC to suit your needs, ensuring you get the most optimum energy generation, whilst also working towards your sustainability goals.
How does it work?
A DEC works through batteries that are fed into a combination of inverter or charger units. Through our service, these are sized to suit client demand and are installed to be fully expandable. These units are seen as ‘grid forming’, meaning they create their own grid, as opposed to standard ‘on-grid’ inverters that typically sync with a grid, like National Grid, in order to work. These systems will always be installed coupled with at least one renewable energy generator, which is connected to the batteries through a controller. Depending on the best solution for your business, the generator will either be solar, wind or micro-hydro, or even a combination of generators. The generator will charge your batteries whenever power is available, directing any excess power to the consumers. In the case of a DEC, a consumer relates to your operations, whether this is within agriculture, manufacturing or warehousing, as examples and as our solution is fully bespoke, we can create whatever size supply your site needs, based on day-to-day demand.
Creating renewable power
For large-scale operations that want to rely more heavily on renewable energy, investing in a DEC is the ideal solution as it can utilise both renewable energy and conventional fuel. At times of low generation, such as no wind or sun, the DEC system will be backed up by a conventional fuel generator. Our goal is to always guide our clients on sustainable practices, and this includes the recommended use of biofuels to run gensets. These systems are controlled by a Victron system, installed by our team, and will always run at peak efficiency, meaning runtime is reduced, in addition to unwanted idling by your generators which would typically result in poor fuel economy. The Victron setup will control the batteries, green production and fuel generators within your micro-grid. Both the consumers and system as a whole is monitored and controlled through a Loxone ecosystem (BMS), which allows our team to utilise excess generation to supply dump loads. This could be applied to water heating, space heating, space cooling, etc, but the system also allows for us to remotely monitor your whole site through our CES HQ monitoring platform, giving our engineers a 24-hour view of system performance across all sites we service.
What are the benefits?
There are a number of benefits of investing in a DEC for your business. The biggest one is that your business could have access to 100% renewable energy. When coupled with biofuel generators, clients who invest in a DEC can declare their site as 100% renewable. This is not something that could be achieved through connection to the National Grid, whilst also supporting your business’ reputation as a sustainable organisation that’s working towards decarbonisation. With no grid connection, you will be free of standing charges, agency fees and climate levy fees, reducing your operational costs and with a DEC, there are no grid limitations, compared with connections to the grid. Grid connections need to be approved, often incurring high connection costs, with limitations on the size. With no limitations in place when investing in a DEC, you can size your generation to suit the needs of your business, whilst also removing power interruptions caused by power failures or the generator being turned off by National Grid. Often, our clients will opt for a larger array, which allows them to generate larger income and providing the opportunity to keep generation running which is ideal for high consumption industries, such as Data Centres.
Business suitability
Investing in a decentralised energy centre is most ideal for businesses that have high and consistent energy demands such as manufacturing. If your business is set within an environment that gives you access to resources like agricultural waste or sunlight, you’ll be able to leverage this type of energy solution to improve your energy efficiency, usage and most importantly, meet your carbon footprint objectives. If your business is located within a remote area, or with an existing critical infrastructure, you will also have the opportunity to utilise microgrids to ensure uninterrupted power that’s sustainably sourced. The investment into a DEC is ideal for new build commercial sites who are likely to experience high connection costs to get grid power connected to their site. The CAPex of a DEC can be offset by the cost of bringing a National Grid connection to your site, providing return on investment.
What our customers think
CES delivered exactly what we needed to strengthen our position in the HS2 tender process. The installation was completed efficiently with minimal disruption to our operations. Not only does the system support our transition to electric vehicles and construction equipment, but it also powers our site workshop effectively. The aftercare service has been excellent, with CES handling all system registration and compliance requirements professionally. Their strategic approach to meeting our sustainability goals while supporting our business growth objectives has been invaluable. Thanks to Joe and all the team.
Ready to future-proof your business? Get in touch with us today.
If you would like to talk to us about upgrading your business’ current electrical infrastructure, or you want to learn more about how we can decarbonise your business, contact us. Please fill in the contact form below and a member of the team will be in touch. Alternatively, give us a call on 01743 850067.