Update on SHIELD project which could reduce energy costs and carbon emissions

20/12/2023

Have you say on reducing heating bills in your home

Eastlight Community Homes has joined the SHIELD project to investigate the potential of using technology to reduce residents’ heating bills and our carbon footprint.

SHIELD (Smart Heat and Intelligent Energy in Low-income Districts) is a partnership of organisations which wants to pilot established and new energy technologies in some Eastlight homes to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions.

What’s happening now?

In the project’s first phase, we surveyed Eastlight residents to get their views on energy and climate change.

In this next stage, we are installing pilot systems in two residents’ homes. If those pilots effectively reduce energy costs and carbon emissions, we may seek external funding to install these technologies in further homes next year

Residents involved would receive these technologies at no cost and should see their energy bills reduced.

At this stage, we have not made a final decision over whether we will trial this technology and we cannot guarantee that this new technology will be installed in residents' homes.

The SHIELD system consists of:

Solar PV generation

Solar PV generates electricity. You can use this electricity immediately or store it in the battery for later use.

A ’Time of Use' tariff

When you sign up to this tariff, electricity prices change depending on the time of day. An example is the Economy 7 tariff, where electricity is cheaper at night.

Using this tariff allows us to charge the battery when electricity is cheap.

An electric battery

The battery can work with batteries in other homes to sell electricity to the National Grid. The battery can also buy electricity from the grid when it is cheap and store it for later use. This saves you money.

What happens next with SHIELD?

There are potentially three phases to SHIELD. Funding has been secured for the first and second phases. SHIELD will be applying for funding for phase 3:

Phase 1 - discovery. Alongside the survey and interviews, this involves working out the best way to combine the technologies mentioned above so they can be installed in a home. We also modelled the potential reductions in energy costs and carbon emissions of installing these technologies.

Phase 2 - detailed design. Started in October 2023.

Phase 3 – implementation. If support and funding is secured, the technology will be installed into further Eastlight homes as part of a large pilot programme.

Who is involved with SHIELD?

The following organisations are involved in this project: