Innovation Exchange Challenge: Integrated Energy Management System for Reading Borough Council's Transport Depot

Background

Reading Borough Council owns and operates a fleet of 225 municipal vehicles, which include a variety of vehicles; from mowers to refuse trucks. Their aim is to achieve complete electrification of this fleet and a net zero depot by 2030. Presently, they have approximately 25 electric vehicles in operation, including twelve 26-tonne electric refuse trucks (3.6 MWh onboard battery storage) and associated EV Chargers. Some of the EV chargers installed have V2X that can be enabled in the future. [SB1] The transportation depot is equipped with a 770 KVA grid connection and has plans to install about 350 kW of solar panels on roofs and canopy systems by spring 2025. Moreover, heat pumps have been implemented throughout the site along with other building decarbonisation measures.

Currently, the Bennet Road Depot operates multiple systems independently, which complicates obtaining a unified view across all operational levels. This fragmentation necessitates delving into different facets of the system and relying on external knowledge and data sources, resulting in inefficiencies both in operations and energy management.

Looking ahead, there’s a critical need to future-proof operations. Understanding the trajectory of future energy systems is essential for the depot to adapt and thrive. This foresight will enable the depot and its power supplies/usage to benefit from operating in an optimal pattern which fits within the grid constraints whilst reducing the dependency on grid-imported electricity through the utilisation of on-site photovoltaics and battery storage offered by electric vehicles.

The challenge

Reading Council is looking for innovative companies that can provide integrated low-carbon control systems at TRL 5 or above. These systems should be agile enough to [SB2] work with an electric vehicle fleet and a built environment designed to incorporate and exploit emerging technologies, both physical and digital, to their fullest potential.

The council is seeking an innovative, integrated energy management system with the following capabilities:

1. Unified Control Interface: Develop a user-friendly control system, potentially an app or similar that links to comprehensive control software. This system should manage various energy inputs and outputs to ensure balance and cost optimization.  The system would need various levels of access to enable certain authorised users to have operational control and responsibility, whilst other authorised personnel may be limited to viewing system status only.

2. Multi-Level Dashboard: Provide a system with:

• A high-level dashboard for overall energy and vehicle management.
• An operation-level dashboard for day-to-day management which would include alert-based systems to notify members of staff of any issues.
• A grid-level interface to connect with the main grid and Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and enable peer to peer energy trading.

3. Energy Self-Management: Address the operational needs of the depot, enabling a high degree of energy self-management and reducing dependence and maximising flexibility services opportunities on the main grid.

4. Smart Charging: The depot will be charging vehicles both day and night and would benefit from systems that can optimise the charging of the vehicles whilst they are all plugged in so that human intervention is minimised.

Eligibility

Entrants to this competition expected to be:

• Established businesses, Test houses, academic institutions, startups, SMEs or individual entrepreneurs
• UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base

Rewards

Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to Reading Borough Council Selected solutions will potentially be trialled by Reading Borough Council with potential for further adoption across the depot.

The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:

• Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
• Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
• Technical support
• Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
• A potential business collaboration
• Investor introductions (if investment is required)
• Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.