Erda systems operating on regional UK electric grids
Scotland is the clear leader for a low carbon grid in the UK (thanks to a plentiful amount of wind), but how far away is England and Wales from reaching their clean futures? While there’s no way to know for sure, National Grid ESO partnered with several organisations to develop the first Carbon Intensity forecast with a unique breakdown for individual regions. The source also provides a comparison on how close the carbon content prediction was to the actual – 83% accuracy in prediction compared to actual in the past 24 hours (03/06/2021)
Using the UK regional data available through https://carbonintensity.org.uk/ , our Insights Diagram displays the system carbon content of heat for Erda systems in real time operating around the UK.
With Erda’s geo-exchange system already operating on Scotland’s clean grid, this diagram enables us to see just how clean the heat from Erda’s system is and will be in the future in other UK regions.
The graphic above shows the regional Scotland grid is emitting 10 g/CO2/kWh and Erda’s geo-exchange is operating at a CoP of 4.1, the g/CO2/kWh drops to 2.4 thermal energy delivered. While fossil fuels such as natural gas have a fixed carbon content (263 g/CO2/kWh thermal delivered), grids continue to green and so do electric heating systems such as heat pumps.
As England and Wales continue to add renewables to their own generation mix, the UK as whole is projected to have a grid carbon intensity of 67 g/CO2/kWh by 2040. A grid with this carbon intensity would allow the carbon content of heat for Erda systems around the UK to drop below 20, but in Scotland where the carbon content of Erda’s heat is already 99% less than natural gas, Erda’s heat already meets the UK’s legal target to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 and could be considered already zero carbon?