How Sweden Is Transforming Homes Into Power Stations

One example is in the city of Ludivika where 1970s flats have recently been retrofitted with the latest smart energy technology. 48 family apartments spread across 3 buildings have been given photovoltaic solar panels, thermal energy storage and heat pump systems. A micro energy grid connects it all, and helps charge electric cars overnight. The result is a cluster of ‘prosumer’ buildings, producing rather than consuming enough power for 77% of residents’ needs. With high levels of smart meter usage, it’s a model that looks set to spread across Sweden. Smart grids then balance the power, react to the weather, deploying extra power when it’s colder or putting excess into battery storage when it’s warm. The system is not only more efficient, but bills have fallen. Smart energy developments like those in Hyllie, Ludivika, and renewable-driven district heating, offer a radical alternative to the centralized energy systems many countries rely on today.

By Harry Kretchmer for the World Economic Forum Sep. 23, 2020 How Sweden Is Transforming Homes Into Power Stations

How Sweden Is Transforming Homes Into Power Stations

The Västra Hamnen neighborhood in Malmö, Sweden, runs on renewable energy. Tomas Ottosson / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0

By 2030, almost a third of all the energy consumed in the European Union must come from renewable sources, according to binding targets agreed in 2018. Sweden is helping lead the way.

As well as targeting 100% renewable electricity production by 2040, the country is transforming homes into highly efficient ‘prosumers’ – buildings which both produce and consume the vast majority of their own energy.

Meanwhile local ‘district heating’ plants are using excess heat to produce over 75% of the warmth that Swedish households need. The country also manages to combine the world’s highest carbon taxes with relatively cheap energy prices.

These are all reasons why Sweden tops the Forum’s Energy Transition Index – providing environmental leadership at a time when a Great Reset has never been more needed. Here’s how Sweden is building up local solutions in its energy revolution.

Sweden is a world leader in renewable energy consumption. Swedish Institute/World Bank

Naturally Warm

54% of Sweden’s power comes from renewables, and is helped by its geography. With plenty of moving water and 63% forest cover, it’s no surprise the two largest renewable power sources are hydropower and biomass. And that biomass is helping support a local energy boom.

Heating is a key use of energy in a cold country like Sweden. In recent decades, as fuel oil taxes have increased, the country’s power companies have turned to renewables, like biomass, to fuel local ‘district heating’ plants.

In Sweden these trace their origins back to 1948, when a power station’s excess heat was first used to heat nearby buildings: steam is forced along a network of pipes to wherever it’s needed. Today, there are around 500 district heating systems across the country, from major cities to small villages, providing heat to homes and businesses.

District heating used to be fueled mainly from the by-products of power plants, waste-to-energy plants and industrial processes. These days, however, Sweden is bringing more renewable sources into the mix. And as a result of competition, this localized form of power is now the country’s home-heating market leader.

Sweden is using smart grids to turn buildings into energy producers. Huang et al/Elsevier

Energy ‘Prosumers’

But Sweden doesn’t stop at village-level heating solutions. Its new breed of energy-generation takes hyper-local to the next level.

One example is in the city of Ludivika where 1970s flats have recently been retrofitted with the latest smart energy technology. 48 family apartments spread across 3 buildings have been given photovoltaic solar panels, thermal energy storage and heat pump systems. A micro energy grid connects it all, and helps charge electric cars overnight. The result is a cluster of ‘prosumer’ buildings, producing rather than consuming enough power for 77% of residents’ needs. With high levels of smart meter usage, it’s a model that looks set to spread across Sweden.

Scaling Up

A recent development by E.ON in Hyllie, a district on the outskirts of Malmö, southern Sweden, has scaled up the smart grid principle. Energy generation comes from local wind, solar, biomass and waste sources.

Smart grids then balance the power, react to the weather, deploying extra power when it’s colder or putting excess into battery storage when it’s warm. The system is not only more efficient, but bills have fallen. Smart energy developments like those in Hyllie, Ludivika, and renewable-driven district heating, offer a radical alternative to the centralized energy systems many countries rely on today.

The EU’s leaders have a challenge: how to generate 32% of energy from renewables by 2030. Sweden offers a vision of how technology and local solutions can turn a goal into a reality.

Reposted with permission from World Economic Forum.

New York sets minimum 3-year term for new load management programs to drive more energy storage

Term-DLM is essentially a day-ahead peak shaving program that can be activated throughout the utility’s territory when the summer forecasted peak load is 88% of forecast system peak demand for the season, said Argueta. The Auto-DLM program can be used for reliability and peak shaving, he said, and will be made available in more specific areas.

Wulff, Andreas. (2015). “New York City” [Photograph]. Retrieved from Flickr.

In Utility Dive, by Robert Walton@TeamWetDog Sept. 24, 2020

  • The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) has adjusted demand response program rules to encourage the development of energy storage, by directing utilities to procure dynamic load management (DLM) resources for terms of at least three years while also maintaining other tariff-based DLM programs.
  • Current DLM program structures “pay for yearly performance and result in a bias towards short-term, low-capital investment solutions,” the commission said in its Sept. 17 order. Experts say the use of longer-term contracts could help capital-intensive projects, like storage, to move forward.
  • The new programs were developed to help meet New York’s energy storage goals, which include the procurement of 1,500 MW by 2025. However, demand response resources are also eligible to participate in the new DLM programs, including a new 10-minute response product called Auto-DLM that will pay participants a premium for rapid-response capabilities.

The new programs will help utilities shave peak load as well as respond to specific system needs during times of high demand. While they are open to a wide range of resource participation, the end result is expected to help develop more battery resources.

The fast response requirements of Auto-DLM “means we would use that program as a contingency rapid response,” said Marlon Argueta, energy efficiency program manager for Consolidated Edison. The programs are technically “technology agnostic,” he said, with only diesel-fired generators restricted from the new Term-DLM and Auto-DLM programs.

That means more typical demand response resources, such as load curtailment, changes to HVAC usage and reductions in lighting, and even gas-fired resources, can participate. But the program “is helping advance the roadmap for storage,” said Argueta.

Term-DLM is essentially a day-ahead peak shaving program that can be activated throughout the utility’s territory when the summer forecasted peak load is 88% of forecast system peak demand for the season, said Argueta. The Auto-DLM program can be used for reliability and peak shaving, he said, and will be made available in more specific areas.

Contract terms and payment for providers or aggregators will be paid “as bid,” meaning economic resources will be paid different prices instead of utilizing a single clearing price. Ceiling prices will be informed by utilities’ Marginal Cost of Service studies, which they are required to do every three years.

“The intention from the commission was to provide enhancements to dynamic load management programs to allow for more storage participation by helping put in place longer-term price certainty through multi-year contract terms,” said Peter Dotson-Westphalen, senior director of market development of CPower Energy Management, and chair of the New York/New England committee for Advanced Energy Management Alliance (AEMA).

Storage costs are falling, “but today these programs still require significant investment from utilities, and existing cost-effectiveness measures may make the implementation of such programs a challenge,” according to Jessie Mehroff, research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.

“Working to ensure the value of such programs remains high and can be secured over a multi-year period should, in theory, help to boost investment and participation on both the utility and customer side of the meter,” Mehroff said in an email.

Dotson-Westphalen said he was pleased to see the PSC adopted several recommended modifications to the utilities’ procurement plans, filed in joint comments by AEMA and the Advanced Energy Economy Institute which urged the commission to make adjustments to align resource eligibility, testing, availability, and performance requirements across all utilities. He said most of the groups’ concerns were taken into account in the final order.

“These new programs and procurements will create new participation opportunities for projects developed in the state by creating longer-term price certainty,” Dotson-Westphalen said.

AEMA raised some concerns the new Auto-DLM program conflicts with New York ISO resource scheduling requirements and dual participation rules, which Dotson-Westphalen said “could cause resources to have to choose” between participating in the ISO or Auto-DLM. Those concerns and recommendations were not adopted in the commission’s order. 

“We’ll need to re-assess, and see how many resources are willing and able to meet Auto-DLM resource requirements and weigh that against values they could otherwise earn in the wholesale market,” he said.

Argueta said Con Edison will be issuing a request for proposals to acquire the DLM resources “towards end of November.”

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