A new UK-first research project to investigate and strengthen links between 5G platforms and the energy sector to improve flexibility and resilience, cut consumer costs and carbon emissions has been launched. The ‘Green, Connected and Prosperous Britain’ research Network Plus project is funded by a £1.1million grant from UKRI and will make recommendations to the energy companies and government over the next two years.
The UK’s energy sector is a powerful example of risks we face with our current energy system:
Increased use of 5G in the energy sector to replace the UK’s centralised analogue systems could lead to huge carbon emission savings and huge savings for consumers because:
A team of researchers led by Professor Sandra Dudley-McEvoy from London South Bank University (LSBU) with partners from three universities, (Professor Goran Strbac, Imperial College London, Professor Maziar Nekovee University of Sussex, Dr Kathryn Buchanan and Professor Riccardo Russo, University of Essex), will conduct a detailed research study over two years.
Sandra Dudley-McEvoy, Professor of Communication systems and Director of Research in LSBU’s School of Engineering, said, “Our £1.1 million research project will for the first time investigate how smart technology and 5G can cut consumer energy costs and carbon emissions. It’s vital we think in new ways about where we get our energy from and how it’s produced. If we don’t we risk increased financial costs and irreparable damage to our planet. One area our research network will study is how smart technology can be used to enable a decentralised network that assists people to produce and sell energy back into the grid, instead of just consuming energy from centralised systems. That could mean carbon emission cuts and savings in how much we spend on our energy bills.”
The ‘Green, Connected and Prosperous Britain’ research project will be holding the first of many meetings with large and small energy companies and technology leaders on April 19th 2022 to encourage collaboration and dialogue to cut energy costs. If you would like to attend please email: Daniela DeGiglio, Network Plus project manager: degigld2@lsbu.ac.uk
Better use of 5G and smart technology in the energy system could provide greater security for energy supplies, using information on power availability in one part of the country could easily be used to deploy energy to another area that requires
Research by The Carbon Trust predicted smart energy systems enabling prosumer evolution and IoT deployment could prevent overbuild of capacity worth 16,000-terawatt hours of annual generation which, based on today's electricity prices, could save $1.9 trillion per year by 2050.