The key to decarbonising is getting “smarter” (Guest blog by The Orthello Partnership)
Traditional electrification is seen by many as the gold-standard for the means to decarbonise the railway. Indeed, for heavy freight trains and high-speed, long-distance passenger trains this is true.
However, we shouldn’t ignore the drawbacks of this approach.
The average cost of electrification is £750k per single track kilometre, which during a time of constrained Government budgets, is not an attractive proposition.
Secondly, from an energy perspective, when a traditional electric train needs power, somewhere in the country a generating station must be producing it at that very moment. The railway treats the energy grid as a black box, and simply assumes power will be provided when needed. As the UK increasingly relies upon renewable generation, and the demand for electricity rises (forecast usage is up by 50% by 2040), this will no longer be sustainable.
Instead, the railway energy system needs to become more flexible, to work around the constraints of the energy system, taking energy at the rate it can be provided, and when energy is available.
Smarter solutions are the way forward
Power-banks, or trackside batteries, enables energy to be taken from the grid at a much lower and smarter rate, within the existing capability of the local energy network and infrastructure. In addition, it can be available to the train at a high current to produce short charging cycles and maintain existing diesel timetables.
At the Orthello Partnership, a smart-energy specialist, we realised that by making this battery bigger, it would enable a number of significant benefits.
Even during peak periods the train can run on cheaper, off-peak power. Although the financial modelling was based on more normal electricity markets, recent market volatility would have seen more significant savings as the gap between off peak and peak prices widens. There are even times overnight when the operator would get paid to take electricity out of the grid.
Working hand-in-hand with the grid
The grid connections can also be much cheaper by drawing energy at times when existing infrastructure is able to provide it. Our studies have shown that a significant number of potential battery charging sites on the railway have constrained electrical infrastructure, but by using flexible connectivity the cost of installing and running these connections is significantly reduced.
The battery is sized for the charge rate of the train, leaving a significant amount of spare, cheaper electricity during the daytime which can be exported back to the grid. This creates a valuable revenue stream from the system, helping to subsidise transport costs by selling energy at peak prices, purchased at off-peak prices
We term this solution Smart Park. We call it that because the significant amount of stored energy can be used for other purposes including the provision of reliable EV at stations at mass scale all managed by the intelligent Orthello software.
Already, charging facilities are often under provided at car parks, due to grid constraints, where the economics of adding battery storage to EV charging is normally less than marginal. By sharing the battery assets with other transport modes, the economics of battery backed EV charging is transformed, and mass deployment is possible, this is complimentary with the predicted increase in EV penetration.
Stations are often in key areas, either at park and ride locations, where mass EV charging facilities will help facilitate the switch both to EVs, and to public transport hubs. They may be the centre of communities with little off-street parking, and Smartpark is able to turn a station into a community charging-facility during off-peak hours, something that local authorities will find valuable for net zero ambitions.
As the path to net zero accelerates, we hope to see systems thinking like this take hold. Great British Railways needs to think not just about trains but how its infrastructure will relate to other connected industries and modes of mobility.
It is only through embracing this approach that we can achieve our ambition of delivering a truly integrated and low carbon transport system at a time we need it most.
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