Reach for renewable energy responsibly to maximise the benefits

Understanding how renewable energy can be most efficiently used in buildings can help businesses make the most of renewable energy from the grid, plus any power they can generate from assets such as solar panels.

In this article, Phil Kane explains how electric vehicles can also be relevant to managing renewable power strategically.

As Europe considers how best to meet its energy needs in the months ahead, renewables will be a recurring theme. Already widely regarded as a mainstay of decarbonisation projects, assets such as solar panels are taking on renewed significance.

Many businesses have already started developing decarbonisation strategies to mitigate climate change and their thoughts naturally turn to what they can do to generate some of their power. What they may not realise is that it is easy to waste renewable energy unless they adopt an approach to maximise the benefits.

Work all available renewable energy as hard as possible

Businesses will make the biggest immediate difference to the energy transition, simply because of their size. Solar panels on commercial buildings are fast becoming a common sight, and assets such as these are already making a difference by reducing day-to-day energy costs and providing a degree of energy independence from the grid.

This is good for the businesses involved, and increasingly relevant to the wider community, because businesses that are generating energy renewably on their sites now have both opportunity and incentive to make the best possible use of it within the context of what big energy providers are doing to step up renewable generation on a larger scale.

Energy storage systems are important in this respect, but so too is the strategic use of energy. Charging electric vehicles by using a mixture of stored renewable energy and off-peak power from the grid is a good example of this, and it is how businesses can also get the best out of the time-of-use tariffs that may emerge as energy companies seek to manage national grids more effectively.

Investments in electric vehicles will prove their worth

Electric vehicles are not just about travelling from A to B. Vehicle batteries store significant amounts of energy which means they can constitute an integral part of an on-site energy management system, whether the site generates some of its own energy or not.

EVs can play a role in making better use of renewable energy simply by storing it when it is most readily available. Instead of fuelling when needed, EV drivers and fleet managers can establish regimes such as overnight charging when demands on the grid are lower and renewable power availability tends to be greater and less expensive.

The benefits are multiplied by on-site production. Businesses that generate their own renewable energy from assets such as solar panels or wind turbines, but do not have enough storage when output peaks on a windy or sunny day, may find their EVs fleet is the place for the power to go, to avoid it being wasted. It all comes down to strategy and systems that support intelligent power management.

Interaction at the grid edge

EV charging will be the route into the energy transition for many building owners, but electrification will go much further than this. Buildings will become energy hubs that manage electricity in a very different way.

Interaction at the grid edge – the point where businesses and homes connect to the network – hasn’t altered much for many years, but renewables are changing this, and we may see the pace of change step up.

Preparing buildings for the energy transition involves analysing energy management and power distribution needs to define an approach that turns them into energy hubs. Most businesses will benefit from taking advice on this.

Although it is tempting for business owners to rush into on-site renewable energy generation, or invest quickly in on-site EV chargers, with the aim of mitigating price rises and boosting energy independence swiftly, this may not be the wisest approach.

The building or site’s power management system must be calibrated to integrate new loads and energy sources effectively, while interaction at the grid edge, largely managed by the utility companies with input from regulators, is evolving fast and simultaneously, too.

Cybersecurity is relevant

Swift investment in renewable generation is happening for a lot of reasons, not least climate change, and renewables undoubtedly are a good addition to Europe’s energy mix. But integrating assets such as solar panels, energy storage systems and EV chargers can be more complex than simply bolting them onto the existing power set-up in buildings, and the digital aspect can expose businesses to unfamiliar security risks.

Taking advice will help businesses to make wise decisions that are safe and helpful in every respect – from the physical safety that is always important in managing electricity, to cybersecurity which is a less well-known – but equally essential consideration.

Electrification is happening quickly, and businesses can certainly help step up the pace. Keeping track of regulatory developments, and working out what assistance they need, will help them to both respond to present circumstances and prepare for a climate-neutral future.

Phil Kane is the Country Manager for Eaton in Ireland. Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. To learn more, visit Buildings as a Grid.