Sustainability West Midlands in partnership with the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands – Introducing the Smart Energy Systems Cluster in the West Midlands: Key Challenges and Next Steps

Event

The Innovative Zero Carbon Working Group (IZCWG) met on 23 July at Energy Systems Catapult to be introduced to the region’s newly formed Energy Systems Cluster which aims to support innovative businesses in this space. Energy Systems Catapult – the secretariat for this Cluster – led a discussion explore the challenges around smart heat and smart homes, and the opportunities for SMEs to work as part of the cluster to overcome these challenges.

This session brought together innovators from across local authorities, academia, SMEs, utilities, and regional support bodies.

Key challenges identified:

Fragmented activity: While there are strong individual projects across the region, many are operating in isolation. Participants noted the need for coordination between national innovation programmes and place-based initiatives.
Scaling remains difficult: Many pilot projects fail to scale beyond initial funding. This is especially true for SME-led solutions, which often lack the investment or partnership routes to move forward.
Lack of user and system focus: Solutions are often developed around available technology, rather than user needs or system integration. This creates barriers to adoption, especially in complex or underserved areas, and holds back the growth and diversification of the market

Opportunities discussed:

Using the SES Cluster: Energy Systems Catapult acting as the secretariat for the cluster can help coordinate efforts of businesses to work together for their mutual benefit, and to align with public and private investment opportunities.
Devolution: as the heat network market is still emerging, the WMCA could provide financial support or guarantees thereby unlocking private investment and accelerating heat network growth.
A national showcase for flexibility: By deploying a range of energy generating and storage technologies for homes and businesses and rethinking power supply so the end user becomes and consumer and a generator, we can create an ecosystem around power flexibility. This will provide a huge market opportunity for businesses, and could potentially be more acceptable to society than large scale power transmission infrastructure.

Further information

Want to get involved in realising these opportunities? Email the IAWM at hello@innovationwm.co.uk.

If you are interested in joining the Innovative Zero Carbon Working Group, or any of the other working groups under Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands, you can learn more, view the current members, and sign up through the IZCWG page.