Councils across London are kick-starting the capital's 'smart city' transformation, with a new LED retrofit backed by the Green Investment Bank (GIB) and an innovative solar battery project set to commence.
Camden Council is teaming up with Islington Council and Waltham Forest Council to pilot a new solar project aimed at eradicating fuel poverty across the areas. The partnership will install solar panels, ranging from 1.62kWp to 3.78kWp, at 41 low income households across the boroughs to test the viability of storing renewable energy.
Project 24/7 Solar, part-funded by national fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, will store solar energy generated from the panels in three different batteries - Maslow the smart battery made by Moixa , and products from Growatt and Sonnen in order to compare the lifetime performance of the batteries and the project.
The project will collect comparative data to assess the performance of each battery brand as well as what extent households will adapt behaviours to utilise stored electricity during peak demand between 4pm and 8pm. Overall, the project will provide evidence on whether solar panels can supplement evening energy use and whether the technology can effectively reduce energy bills.
“Solar plus storage is of huge interest to Camden Council. Fuel poverty is a very serious issue, blighting people of all ages and circumstances nationwide and storing solar energy can be one of the methods to offer our tenants significant savings to help reduce this burden,” Camden Council’s cabinet member for sustainability Meric Apak said.
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