An SSEN Distribution project, which is designed to help hospitals deliver critical care provision, use more clean electricity, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels has received regulatory support and funding to progress to a new development phase.
The FORTRESS project – which stands for “flexibility and optimisation for resilience in energy systems” has successfully applied for almost half a million pounds of funding from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which is managed in partnership with Innovate UK. This means the project will move forward to the Alpha development phase, and follows an earlier successful funding application last year which enabled initial studies to be done.
What will the project deliver?
This project will help accelerate decarbonisation of important sites like hospitals. These use a lot of power, but their demand has not been visible to Distribution Network Operators like ourselves, because they have generated their own power on-site, usually through the burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas. As they move away from these high-carbon fuels, demand on local grids will increase.
FORTRESS looks in detail at how different parts of hospitals actually consume power. At its heart is the principle that essential services like intensive care will always retain the high levels of resilience they require, whilst other services would be maintained by the innovative use of flexible heating systems and storage technology, along with new network access products, that allow customers requesting capacity to connect to the network earlier. This will allow the sites to operate safely and securely whilst continuing to decarbonise, without placing excessive demands on the local electricity network.
What happens next?
In this new phase of the project, our innovation and technical teams will work even more closely with colleagues at project partners NHS Tayside and NHS England - among others - to test and refine these ideas. Key activities will include even more detailed analysis of how hospital sites use energy, the exploring of options like energy storage, and the running of scenarios to more fully understand how hospitals would respond during times of high demand for power.
The project will also shape a new type of connection agreement that allows hospitals to access electricity capacity sooner, while helping reduce strain on the network. This approach can avoid costly upgrades, lower carbon emissions, and make better use of existing infrastructure.
Gemma Ennis, FORTRESS Project Delivery Manager at SSEN Distribution, says:
“A hospital’s key purpose is to provide safe and reliable care for patients. But in this era of volatile, high fossil fuel costs, the healthcare system is eager to move over to more sustainable energy sources.
“The insights FORTRESS is developing into how and when hospitals use the most power is helping us to shape the evolving clean energy system around their specific needs.
“By reducing peaks in electricity demand and improving coordination between hospitals and the wider network, we’ll be able to defer some network investment, which will save bill payers’ money. These savings help reduce the overall cost of running the network, which ultimately benefits energy bill payers.
“FORTRESS also ensures essential functions remain fully protected, while allowing less critical activities to be more flexible. This balance helps maintain patient safety while reducing pressure on the network where possible.”
We'd like to thank our partners at NHS Tayside, NHS England, SGN and Ricardo for their support with this project. FORTRESS been successful at the Strategic Innovation Fund’s cycle’s ‘Alpha’ phase. Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
Lynne Hamilton, Public Health Programme Director at NHS Tayside says:
"NHS Tayside is delighted to expand its collaboration on the Fortress Project. Working alongside SSEN, Ricardo, SGN, and NHS England, we’re exploring innovative, flexible heat solutions for our major hospital sites. This exciting initiative will assist NHS Tayside to advance its net-zero estate planning.
“By balancing strict resilience requirements with a smooth transition to renewable energy, the project works towards the achievement of Scottish Government’s Climate Emergency and Sustainability targets."