SHIELD

About SHIELD

Welcome to the SHIELD project homepage.

SHIELD stands for Smart Heat and Intelligent Energy in Low-income Districts.

Energy prices are rising fast.

The goal of this SHIELD is to integrate established and new energy technologies to reduce household energy costs and reduce carbon emissions. Our plan is to pilot these technologies in some Eastlight Community Homes housing.

The project has three phases:

• Phase 1: Discovery
• Phase 2: Detailed Design (the current phase)
• Phase 3: Implementation, where we will install these technologies into 100+ homes in a large-scale pilot project

Our team includes technology providers (Power Circle CIC, Thermify,); Citizens Advice Essex, Essex County Council, Eastlight Community Homes, UK Power Networks and UK Community Works CIC.

Our Goals

Our goals in Phase 2 are:

1. To install SHIELD energy systems in two homes
2. To monitor the performance of the SHIELD system
3. To calculate the cost and carbon savings that the SHILED energy system delivers
4. To build a list of tenants interested in having the SHIELD energy system installed as part of a large scale pilot in Phase 3
5. To model the reductions in energy costs and carbon emissions from installing these technologies in a home
6. To let Eastlight tenants know about the project
7. To gather the views of Eastlight tenants on the project
8. To build a list of tenants interested in exploring this in more detail in Phase 2 of the project Timetable

Timetable

Phase 2: Detailed Design is from now until the end of March 2024.
If Phase 3: Implementation is funded,  is it will begin in October 2024.

Details on the individual technologies

SHIELD combines established energy equipment such as solar PV and heat pumps with newer technologies like intelligent batteries, distributed data centres and ridgetop wind turbines. The project is also looking at integrating these systems with electric vehicle charging.

These newer technologies include:

Thermify distributed cloud computers

This is part of a distributed data centre that sits in your house. The waste heat from its operation can provide all the heat and hot water a house needs for £300 per year.

Battery storage

These intelligent batteries can sell electricity and together with other batteries in the area provide frequency response services to the grid, making money to reduce your overall bill. They can, in certain circumstances buy cheap electricity for you to use when it is more expensive.

Heat Battery

This is like an electrical battery, but one that stores heat for use when it is needed.