> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/events/banter-sessions-inc-table-of-all-sessions/banter-123-10jun76-vibe-virtual-power-plant-with-lisa-beaney.md). # Banter 123: 10Jun76 VIBE Virtual Power Plant, with Lisa Beaney {% embed url="" %} Please note: during the live session, there were issues with the sound on the accompanyiing video clip. They have been resolved here. *** #### Presentation: {% embed url="" %} You are welcome to view and/or download the above presentation (default location is /Downloads). A markdown (text only) version is available at the bottom of this page *** #### Meeting Summary: Jun 10, 2026 11:51 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536 ### Quick recap This meeting focused on Lisa presenting the Green Isle of Wight Community Interest Company's virtual battery network project. Lisa explained how the project aims to address energy constraints and fuel poverty on the Isle of Wight by creating a network of home batteries that work together like a shared community battery system. The project targets households, community buildings, and small businesses, particularly helping those who cannot afford solar panels or are not suitable for solar installation, such as flat residents. Lisa detailed how the system would store excess electricity when it's cheap and use it during expensive peak times, while also supporting the local grid by absorbing excess solar power and reducing strain on aging infrastructure. The presentation included an animated video demonstration, though audio issues prevented all participants from hearing it during the meeting. The project has already begun onboarding initial participants with trial batteries and is working with the Center for Energy Equality on software development and energy advice services. ### Next steps #### Lisa * Continue onboarding the first cohort of households and those with existing batteries, gather real-world data to complete financial modeling for the virtual battery network project. * Work with the Center for Energy Equality to implement the Fairer Warmth platform and integrate energy advice for participating households. * Collaborate with the Portsmouth consortium and Warm Homes local grant team to ensure grant-funded battery recipients are informed about the project and given the opportunity to join. * Plan and execute the first stage of the community share raise to fund community batteries in local venues (e.g., cricket club, community hall). * Post the link to the project animation/video in the meeting chat and/or on the website for attendees to review. #### Collaboration * All attendees (especially those with relevant experience): Respond to the current government call for evidence on the case for community batteries, referencing the Isle of Wight project as a case study. ### Summary ####
#### Virtual Battery Network Project Presentation Lisa presented on the virtual battery network project being developed by Green Isle of Wight Community Interest Company. She explained that the Isle of Wight has significant energy efficiency challenges, with 13.13% fuel poverty rate compared to 9.65% average for the South of England, and an aging population with 35% of adults over 65. The project aims to create a community-owned solution that will help households save money on electricity, particularly those who need it most, while keeping locally produced solar power on the island rather than exporting it to the mainland. #### Community Battery Network Project Lisa presented a project to create a network of home batteries that would work together like a shared community battery system for the island, which has limited power connections to the mainland. The project aims to help people afford to heat their homes properly by storing excess electricity when it's cheap and using it when electricity is expensive, particularly benefiting those who cannot afford solar panels or batteries. The system would include three cohorts: households, community buildings, and small businesses, with support provided for non-tech-savvy participants and surplus benefits going to community projects. #### Community Battery Project Presentation Lisa presented a community battery project on the Isle of Wight that is currently onboarding its first participants with trial batteries. The project aims to help people maximize the benefits of existing batteries and eventually expand to homes without solar capacity, particularly flats that cannot install solar panels. Lisa explained that the project will use revenue from aggregated flexibility markets to fund community batteries at local venues like cricket clubs and community halls, with plans to raise additional capital through community share raises. The project targets properties not connected to mains gas, particularly those using oil heating, and requires smart meters for metering and data collection. *** #### Chat: 00:11:13 Matt Whitehead: Having some problems here. Will close and try again \ 00:18:40 Alison Bruce: I suddenly have a huge echo...… \ 00:32:22 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: There are now schemes where people can have energy tech installed without paying up fromt. ### 00:33:42 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: [**Octopus Energy launches ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme for solar panels**](https://octopus.energy/blog/solar-for-all-spread-the-cost-over-time/) \ 00:34:11 Andrew Clegg, Martock, Somerset: Have you (or anyone) involved housing associations in the project ### 00:37:36 Dan Stone: here's the call for evidence on the case for community batteries. It's strongly aimed at seeking feedback from the community energy sector, so I'd encourage you all to respond: [https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/assessing-the-case-for-community-batteries ](https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/assessing-the-case-for-community-batteries)(probably telling you something you already know!). ### 00:38:18 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: For the video - *** #### Audio-transcript: 114 \ 00:14:06.680 --> 00:14:10.929 \ Lisa Beaney: If I introduce who we are and what we do. 115 \ 00:14:11.640 --> 00:14:12.430 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Great. 116 \ 00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:19.270 \ Lisa Beaney: So, the Isle of Wight is a little island about 5 miles off of the south coast. 117 \ 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:27.129 \ Lisa Beaney: And this slide shows the average energy efficiency of the properties on the island. So… 118 \ 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:37.660 \ Lisa Beaney: Dark green here is good, and as you get to the more yellowy, orangey colours, it's bad, because we have very old housing stock. 119 \ 00:14:39.890 --> 00:14:44.549 \ Lisa Beaney: So, Green Isle of Wight, we are a community interest company. 120 \ 00:14:45.030 --> 00:14:52.800 \ Lisa Beaney: We've… we're set up to run local projects that cut carbon and improve daily life. So. 121 \ 00:14:52.930 --> 00:14:59.329 \ Lisa Beaney: Our, kind of, key tagline is helping people make their homes warmer and cheaper to heat. 122 \ 00:14:59.900 --> 00:15:06.879 \ Lisa Beaney: So, last year, we had over 4,500 people attend our outreach sessions on the island. 123 \ 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:17.299 \ Lisa Beaney: We provided individual, personalised advice to over 700 households, and a large proportion of these were through home visits to people. 124 \ 00:15:17.540 --> 00:15:22.340 \ Lisa Beaney: And about half of them, we actually installed easy energy-saving. 125 \ 00:15:22.450 --> 00:15:29.409 \ Lisa Beaney: Things like changing out old light bulbs for new light bulbs, bidding, draft, proofing measures. 126 \ 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.590 \ Lisa Beaney: But we've found that these are… 127 \ 00:15:34.050 --> 00:15:40.529 \ Lisa Beaney: kind of one-off things. And what we want to do is lower bills over time for people. 128 \ 00:15:41.060 --> 00:15:48.369 \ Lisa Beaney: So, rather than a quick fix or a sticking plaster approach that an energy voucher might be. 129 \ 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:57.350 \ Lisa Beaney: We want to make it easier for households to save money on electricity, especially those who need it most. 130 \ 00:15:57.870 --> 00:16:05.809 \ Lisa Beaney: On the island, we produce a lot of solar power in the summer, so we want to keep as much of that on the island as possible. 131 \ 00:16:06.020 --> 00:16:08.979 \ Lisa Beaney: And I'll come on to the reasons why in a minute. 132 \ 00:16:09.110 --> 00:16:26.469 \ Lisa Beaney: but also make it a fair transition, so that it will… this project will be community-owned, and all of the benefits will be put back into the community. So, it's not just for people that can afford to buy the new tech. 133 \ 00:16:28.010 --> 00:16:30.400 \ Lisa Beaney: So if we look at what the actual problem is. 134 \ 00:16:31.890 --> 00:16:38.579 \ Lisa Beaney: This is a brief overview of the National Grid as it stands on the Isle of Wight. 135 \ 00:16:38.850 --> 00:16:45.309 \ Lisa Beaney: Each of those little electricity symbols shows where our primary substations are. 136 \ 00:16:45.640 --> 00:16:51.580 \ Lisa Beaney: And the fact that they're all red shows that there are constraints. So we have an ageing 137 \ 00:16:52.450 --> 00:16:55.330 \ Lisa Beaney: Ageing infrastructure over here. 138 \ 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:08.140 \ Lisa Beaney: You can then look at the fuel poverty over here. For south of England, it's, on average, 9.65%. On the Isle of Wight, it's 13.13. 139 \ 00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:18.290 \ Lisa Beaney: But these figures don't actually give you the… the true picture. This is based on the government's method of calculating it. 140 \ 00:17:18.530 --> 00:17:33.680 \ Lisa Beaney: If you take wider estimates based on 10% of household income, that puts the level of fuel poverty closer at 30%. So, the DESNES figures are based on quite a narrow definition. 141 \ 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:45.369 \ Lisa Beaney: So we also have an aging population. I think something like 35% of the adults on the island, or the population on the island, are over 65. 142 \ 00:17:45.760 --> 00:17:49.230 \ Lisa Beaney: We have lower than average incomes. 143 \ 00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:55.129 \ Lisa Beaney: We've recently been ranked as one of the most left-behind areas in the UK. 144 \ 00:17:55.310 --> 00:18:05.129 \ Lisa Beaney: And, as that picture showed, we are an island with limited power connections. We do only have 3 cables linking us to the mainland. 145 \ 00:18:05.130 --> 00:18:05.650 \ Alison Bruce: Max. 146 \ 00:18:07.860 --> 00:18:10.310 \ Lisa Beaney: So what can we actually do about it? 147 \ 00:18:10.930 --> 00:18:18.999 \ Lisa Beaney: So, our project is a network of home batteries that will work together like one big shared community battery. 148 \ 00:18:19.250 --> 00:18:23.360 \ Lisa Beaney: So they'll be installed in multiple homes across the island. 149 \ 00:18:23.560 --> 00:18:37.860 \ Lisa Beaney: will have software controlling the charging and discharging of the batteries, and they can work together like one big system. So the savings and value are actually shared locally. 150 \ 00:18:39.230 --> 00:18:46.120 \ Lisa Beaney: So what I have next is a short animated video that will explain the project to you. 151 \ 00:19:08.520 --> 00:19:12.069 \ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Hi, Lisa, there's no sound to the video, if it's meant to be. 152 \ 00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:17.400 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, yeah, there should be, let me… Try and work out why. 153 \ 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:22.030 \ Dan Stone: It's a common… 154 \ 00:19:22.030 --> 00:19:23.420 \ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: problem with Zoom. 155 \ 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:30.499 \ Dan Stone: When you share your screen, there's normally a button that says, enable sound. 156 \ 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:31.320 \ Alison Bruce: Thanks. 157 \ 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:33.790 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, let me have a little look. 158 \ 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:38.889 \ Lisa Beaney: I'll try stopping sharing and reshare. 159 \ 00:19:39.260 --> 00:19:43.060 \ Dan Stone: Thank you. 160 \ 00:19:44.050 --> 00:19:51.229 \ Alison Bruce: that, can I say that I have a huge echo here? I don't know if anyone else is having that. 161 \ 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:54.760 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: I'm not hearing it, absolutely. 162 \ 00:19:54.760 --> 00:19:55.390 \ Dan Stone: It's something… 163 \ 00:19:55.390 --> 00:19:58.200 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Sometimes means that one person's logged in twice, somehow. 164 \ 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.850 \ Dan Stone: Yes. 165 \ 00:19:59.850 --> 00:20:01.270 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Either by the… by the. 166 \ 00:20:01.270 --> 00:20:02.260 \ Dan Stone: computer. 167 \ 00:20:02.260 --> 00:20:04.700 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: And their, mobile phone. 168 \ 00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:09.520 \ Dan Stone: I hope so. 169 \ 00:20:09.520 --> 00:20:13.150 \ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Dan, can you re-mute yourself, please? Because a lot of. 170 \ 00:20:13.150 --> 00:20:13.990 \ Dan Stone: Sure, I'm sorry. 171 \ 00:20:15.620 --> 00:20:21.339 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, if I try this again… Can everyone hear that? 172 \ 00:20:21.570 --> 00:20:22.750 \ Alison Bruce: No. No. 173 \ 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:23.450 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Leno. 174 \ 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:26.100 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: I do like the pictures, mate, but… 175 \ 00:20:26.100 --> 00:20:31.519 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, I'll let it run without the sound, and we have it on our website, so you'll be able to. 176 \ 00:20:31.520 --> 00:20:32.280 \ Alison Bruce: Yeah, true. 177 \ 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.460 \ Lisa Beaney: look at. 178 \ 00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:36.439 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Good. So I'm getting an echo now. 179 \ 00:20:37.430 --> 00:20:42.950 \ Lisa Beaney: Yeah, I'll stop sharing. I think that's me sharing my… Microphone, or trying to. 180 \ 00:20:42.950 --> 00:20:43.350 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Thank you. 181 \ 00:20:43.350 --> 00:20:45.979 \ Lisa Beaney: sound, so I'll stop sharing and… 182 \ 00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.630 \ Lisa Beaney: Take off that share sound option. 183 \ 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:52.940 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Okay. Well, if you put the link in the chat in due course, Lisa, then people… 184 \ 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:53.469 \ Lisa Beaney: Will do. 185 \ 00:20:59.830 --> 00:21:00.649 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: You're still sharing. 186 \ 00:21:00.650 --> 00:21:01.610 \ Alison Bruce: Still sharing, still sharing. 187 \ 00:21:01.610 --> 00:21:02.010 \ Lisa Beaney: Yeah. 188 \ 00:21:02.010 --> 00:21:03.719 \ Alison Bruce: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 189 \ 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:08.990 \ Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Could you mute, please? Because it might be you that's causing the echo. 190 \ 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:14.130 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Testing? Testing. 191 \ 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.170 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, can everyone still hear me? 192 \ 00:21:17.170 --> 00:21:17.750 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Yep. 193 \ 00:21:17.750 --> 00:21:19.319 \ Mike PLUMMER: Yes, beautifully. 194 \ 00:21:19.780 --> 00:21:32.940 \ Lisa Beaney: Okay, so I'll pop the link to our website in the chat at the end, so you can go on and have a look at the animation. But what it does, it allows us to store excess electricity 195 \ 00:21:34.340 --> 00:21:42.080 \ Lisa Beaney: fits… Available when it's cheap, so that it can be used when electricity is expensive. 196 \ 00:21:42.710 --> 00:21:50.230 \ Lisa Beaney: And it's aimed at people that wouldn't typically be able to afford batteries and solar. 197 \ 00:21:50.710 --> 00:21:51.690 \ Lisa Beaney: And… 198 \ 00:21:52.440 --> 00:22:09.770 \ Lisa Beaney: people that might not have properties that are suitable for solar. So, with the house batteries, we can install them for people that have flats, as well as people that have houses. So, typically, they are people that wouldn't be able to benefit from a lot of the other schemes. 199 \ 00:22:10.210 --> 00:22:11.110 \ Lisa Beaney: So… 200 \ 00:22:12.080 --> 00:22:21.700 \ Lisa Beaney: It helps people lower their bills. By helping people lower their bills, it means that they can afford to heat their homes properly. 201 \ 00:22:22.630 --> 00:22:29.420 \ Lisa Beaney: Because one thing we notice when we do a lot of our home visits is that people just cannot afford to put the heating on. 202 \ 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:38.139 \ Lisa Beaney: So, if we can save people money in one area, they can use it to help heat their homes during the winter. 203 \ 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:55.340 \ Lisa Beaney: And then any surplus benefits are put into community projects, so various energy advice, upgrade… home upgrades for people, and future projects, funding more batteries so that more people can take part. 204 \ 00:23:00.730 --> 00:23:09.060 \ Lisa Beaney: So, we've got 3 different cohorts of people that can take part. We've got households, So, people… 205 \ 00:23:09.430 --> 00:23:17.460 \ Lisa Beaney: can have home batteries, and it's quite a, I'd say, a supported process, because a lot of the 206 \ 00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:25.589 \ Lisa Beaney: the people on the island here aren't necessarily tech-savvy, and maybe I don't think it's just on the island, I think 207 \ 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:36.520 \ Lisa Beaney: we… Or rather, Government quite often assume that if you put something online, it makes it accessible to everyone. 208 \ 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:41.720 \ Lisa Beaney: But the reality we've found is that it doesn't. And… 209 \ 00:23:42.280 --> 00:23:58.830 \ Lisa Beaney: there's… we've got the Warm Homes grant local funding that can fund some batteries for people, and it's no good just installing a battery for somebody and expecting them to know how to operate it, how to make the most out of it. 210 \ 00:23:59.520 --> 00:24:05.970 \ Lisa Beaney: we have to help people do that, so that's what this project is. It allows people to 211 \ 00:24:07.660 --> 00:24:16.219 \ Lisa Beaney: To get the financial rewards that they should from having the battery, that they won't necessarily if they're just left to their own devices. 212 \ 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:22.380 \ Lisa Beaney: We're looking at funding batteries in community buildings. 213 \ 00:24:22.520 --> 00:24:28.879 \ Lisa Beaney: So, a large battery in a cricket club or a community hall, we can then 214 \ 00:24:29.360 --> 00:24:36.279 \ Lisa Beaney: get benefit from that, and I'll go on in a minute and show you how the revenue stack for this works out. 215 \ 00:24:36.410 --> 00:24:47.399 \ Lisa Beaney: But that battery in that community building can help spread those benefits locally to other people that, for one reason or another, may not be able to take part in the project. 216 \ 00:24:47.600 --> 00:24:56.440 \ Lisa Beaney: And some small businesses can also join our project. So, we're finding businesses that could benefit 217 \ 00:24:56.850 --> 00:25:08.810 \ Lisa Beaney: By having a battery. And a lot of businesses on the island are kind of owner-occupier businesses, where it's a very small business run by one or two people. 218 \ 00:25:09.150 --> 00:25:10.120 \ Lisa Beaney: And… 219 \ 00:25:10.410 --> 00:25:23.640 \ Lisa Beaney: like a lot of businesses across the island, they're also struggling. So, if we help businesses as well, we help them stay profitable, which means they actually stay in business. 220 \ 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:33.629 \ Lisa Beaney: Which helps with employment on the island, which again means people have more money to spend and can afford to pay their energy bills and heat their homes. 221 \ 00:25:36.130 --> 00:25:47.500 \ Lisa Beaney: So, we look at it as various building blocks for our income. So, the first one, which is just using electricity when it's cheap. 222 \ 00:25:48.520 --> 00:26:02.730 \ Lisa Beaney: sorry, charging when it's cheap, and using electricity when it's more expensive. So typically, we've seen this with tariffs like the Old Economy 7 tariff overnight, but now we're getting a lot more 223 \ 00:26:03.310 --> 00:26:17.630 \ Lisa Beaney: interactive tariffs, where the energy price will change on a half-hourly basis, and we can trigger all of the batteries to charge or discharge based on the… either the 224 \ 00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:24.939 \ Lisa Beaney: Cost of energy that we're buying, or the amount that we would be paid for putting that energy back to the grid. 225 \ 00:26:26.100 --> 00:26:30.640 \ Lisa Beaney: And then, at a national level, by having these 226 \ 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:38.059 \ Lisa Beaney: batteries that can operate like one big battery, sometimes the national grid just needs 227 \ 00:26:38.800 --> 00:26:46.629 \ Lisa Beaney: A bit of help, or it could be 5 or 10 seconds to balance a particular issue on the system. 228 \ 00:26:47.110 --> 00:26:54.079 \ Lisa Beaney: So, having that… capacity available, there is a financial benefit for that. 229 \ 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:55.630 \ Lisa Beaney: And then… 230 \ 00:26:55.670 --> 00:27:04.949 \ Lisa Beaney: supporting our local network, so as we say here, soaking up extra solar, because the solar capacity for the island 231 \ 00:27:04.950 --> 00:27:17.210 \ Lisa Beaney: is about half of its total winter usage. So, in the summer, we're reliant on those cables back to the mainland to export all of that electricity back. 232 \ 00:27:17.470 --> 00:27:22.910 \ Lisa Beaney: Now, if… Those cables look like they're going to become overloaded. 233 \ 00:27:23.910 --> 00:27:27.270 \ Lisa Beaney: The local network operator will 234 \ 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:37.849 \ Lisa Beaney: turn off, effectively, some of the solar farms, though they won't be able to export their electricity. So if we can trigger our batteries to soak that up. 235 \ 00:27:38.130 --> 00:27:41.660 \ Lisa Beaney: Then, that means that energy isn't wasted. 236 \ 00:27:42.530 --> 00:27:54.539 \ Lisa Beaney: And we're also talking to SSEN about looking at the loading on the secondary substations, because on the island, most of them don't have any monitoring on them. 237 \ 00:27:54.620 --> 00:28:04.930 \ Lisa Beaney: So the only time that they know that they are getting near capacity and overloaded is actually when they start to overheat. So each of them has 238 \ 00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:12.690 \ Lisa Beaney: Something that looks like a greenhouse thermometer there, with a maximum and a minimum value on it. 239 \ 00:28:12.760 --> 00:28:25.809 \ Lisa Beaney: And it's only by somebody going and looking at that and seeing, yes, this secondary substation is getting too hot. That means the loading on it is getting too high. That's the only method they have for knowing that. 240 \ 00:28:26.210 --> 00:28:29.800 \ Lisa Beaney: If we can put batteries around 241 \ 00:28:30.020 --> 00:28:48.390 \ Lisa Beaney: a secondary substation that is showing problems like that. We can trigger those batteries to charge when the energy is freely available, and then discharge back into the house, and therefore reduce the load on that secondary substation during peak periods. 242 \ 00:28:49.390 --> 00:28:52.350 \ Lisa Beaney: The other thing we've found is that this is a… 243 \ 00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:58.310 \ Lisa Beaney: Very quick-changing industry, and that there are new opportunities 244 \ 00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:06.900 \ Lisa Beaney: arising all of the time, with different markets and services opening up. So we're looking at how we can incorporate all of that. 245 \ 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:17.530 \ Lisa Beaney: So, how does it help the local grid? As I said, the solar can exceed grid capacity, and the evening demand strains the network. 246 \ 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.809 \ Lisa Beaney: Upgrades are very slow and very expensive. 247 \ 00:29:22.180 --> 00:29:32.860 \ Lisa Beaney: And they're not a given. And SSCN are working at the moment on their plans for ED3, which is the next five-year 248 \ 00:29:33.250 --> 00:29:36.710 \ Lisa Beaney: Period that will come in from 2028. 249 \ 00:29:37.820 --> 00:29:45.940 \ Lisa Beaney: If there's no new subsea cable in there for the Isle of Wight, we're going to start running into a lot of constraint issues over here. 250 \ 00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:51.470 \ Lisa Beaney: So, with our project, it means excess solar can be stored locally. 251 \ 00:29:51.820 --> 00:30:03.480 \ Lisa Beaney: And stored energy supports peak demand. And we can reduce some of the pressures on our network without necessarily having to wait for major upgrades. 252 \ 00:30:06.030 --> 00:30:08.259 \ Lisa Beaney: So why do we do all of this? 253 \ 00:30:08.450 --> 00:30:11.440 \ Lisa Beaney: We're doing this for people, because 254 \ 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:22.959 \ Lisa Beaney: Whatever happens in this country, we need people to be able to afford to heat their homes properly. We need people to have affordable energy. 255 \ 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:26.040 \ Lisa Beaney: And we need this transition to be fair. 256 \ 00:30:26.170 --> 00:30:28.049 \ Lisa Beaney: And at the moment, it isn't. 257 \ 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:43.489 \ Lisa Beaney: If you've got the money, and you can afford to buy all of this technology, then you can reduce your energy bill substantially. And at home, we've done this ourselves. We've got solar panels, we've got batteries, we've got heat pumps, and… 258 \ 00:30:43.870 --> 00:30:48.549 \ Lisa Beaney: It has cut thousands of pounds off of our energy bill each year. 259 \ 00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:51.370 \ Lisa Beaney: If you don't have that money to start with. 260 \ 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:56.249 \ Lisa Beaney: You don't have the opportunity to make those savings, and that's not fair. 261 \ 00:30:56.550 --> 00:31:01.660 \ Lisa Beaney: So what we want to do is to try and even out the playing field a little bit. 262 \ 00:31:01.810 --> 00:31:05.229 \ Lisa Beaney: It won't go all the way, and we can't help everyone. 263 \ 00:31:05.410 --> 00:31:10.299 \ Lisa Beaney: But if we can help people like Derek here. 264 \ 00:31:11.230 --> 00:31:23.109 \ Lisa Beaney: afford to be able to heat his home. He was heating it just with a log burner, because he's in an all-electric house, and couldn't afford to put the heating on during peak times. 265 \ 00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:29.970 \ Lisa Beaney: We have to be able to make people's lives better, and that's what we're aiming for. 266 \ 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:35.390 \ Lisa Beaney: So, at this point, I think that is the final slide. 267 \ 00:31:36.180 --> 00:31:38.599 \ Lisa Beaney: I will say, are there any questions? 268 \ 00:31:40.770 --> 00:31:46.180 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Lisa, that's absolutely amazing, and what a revelation. I'm sure there'll be lots of questions here. We've got, 269 \ 00:31:46.180 --> 00:31:46.880 \ Dan Stone: Bye. 270 \ 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.230 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Rick here from Carbon Copy, we've got Dan here from the community. 271 \ 00:31:50.230 --> 00:31:52.099 \ Dan Stone: Yeah, I might. 272 \ 00:31:52.100 --> 00:31:55.940 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Sustainable Energy, who's got his hand up first. 273 \ 00:31:55.940 --> 00:31:56.319 \ Dan Stone: do it from. 274 \ 00:31:56.320 --> 00:32:00.310 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: And, I noticed that, . 275 \ 00:32:00.310 --> 00:32:05.860 \ Dan Stone: We had a discussion that the. 276 \ 00:32:05.860 --> 00:32:09.169 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: The idea of people clubbing together in a street to have their own 277 \ 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:15.520 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: deals in a street-wide basis, has been an idea for a while, but has never really taken off anywhere. 278 \ 00:32:15.520 --> 00:32:16.020 \ Dan Stone: happened. 279 \ 00:32:16.020 --> 00:32:17.100 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: This is something that's. 280 \ 00:32:17.100 --> 00:32:17.540 \ Dan Stone: Oh, God. 281 \ 00:32:17.540 --> 00:32:18.800 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: It avoids all that, and it… 282 \ 00:32:18.800 --> 00:32:19.460 \ Dan Stone: Yeah. 283 \ 00:32:19.460 --> 00:32:27.870 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: the just transition of it is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much, Liz. Dan, you're first up. After Dan, I'll go to Rick after Dan, but Dan, your question's up. 284 \ 00:32:27.870 --> 00:32:34.080 \ Dan Stone: Yeah, thanks. That was… that was great. What a fantastic project. I… questions I had were, 285 \ 00:32:34.250 --> 00:32:52.139 \ Dan Stone: How far has your project along? What have been the, sort of, greatest barriers for you in getting the project going? And just, if people aren't aware, there's a call for evidence on the case for community batteries that's live at the moment. I really encourage you to all respond to it. Yours sounds like a great case study. 286 \ 00:32:52.270 --> 00:32:54.359 \ Dan Stone: To put forward, Lisa. 287 \ 00:32:55.010 --> 00:33:04.790 \ Lisa Beaney: Thank you. At the moment, we are onboarding the first few people. We've raised some money for some trial batteries. 288 \ 00:33:05.010 --> 00:33:09.930 \ Lisa Beaney: So we are opening it up to people that might already have batteries. 289 \ 00:33:10.140 --> 00:33:13.150 \ Lisa Beaney: Because lots of people have gone out 290 \ 00:33:13.270 --> 00:33:16.369 \ Lisa Beaney: And have them installed, but don't necessarily 291 \ 00:33:16.520 --> 00:33:19.270 \ Lisa Beaney: Know how to make the most out of them. 292 \ 00:33:19.390 --> 00:33:26.709 \ Lisa Beaney: That will give us… Hopefully, the data that we need to finish for financial modelling, because 293 \ 00:33:27.100 --> 00:33:31.240 \ Lisa Beaney: At the moment, everything that we've done on the 294 \ 00:33:32.100 --> 00:33:44.969 \ Lisa Beaney: how much income each person will save has been a numbers-based exercise. But we're now moving into the… putting it into real homes with real people. 295 \ 00:33:45.990 --> 00:33:49.289 \ Lisa Beaney: And… And helping them with that. 296 \ 00:33:51.080 --> 00:33:59.350 \ Lisa Beaney: The biggest obstacles Has actually been working with the district network operator. 297 \ 00:33:59.760 --> 00:34:09.780 \ Lisa Beaney: And… And the… the aggregators that we need to work with to actually tie it all together. 298 \ 00:34:10.170 --> 00:34:18.549 \ Lisa Beaney: We're working with the center for Energy Equality, who are writing all of the The software behind it. 299 \ 00:34:18.710 --> 00:34:20.150 \ Lisa Beaney: So, it… 300 \ 00:34:20.389 --> 00:34:31.210 \ Lisa Beaney: we'll be using their fairer Warmth platform as part of it, so people don't just get a battery, it will be wrapped up with a whole load of energy advice as well. 301 \ 00:34:31.500 --> 00:34:36.160 \ Lisa Beaney: And we've been talking to… the consortium for… 302 \ 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:52.130 \ Lisa Beaney: from Portsmouth that covers the Isle of Wight, so the Warm Homes Local Grant to try and make sure that for every battery that is installed that is grant funded, that the people are given the information about our project. 303 \ 00:34:52.420 --> 00:35:04.269 \ Lisa Beaney: So that we can help them get on to the best tariff, and also give them the opportunity to join, if they choose to, to maximize the financial benefits from their batteries. 304 \ 00:35:07.350 --> 00:35:13.320 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Amazing. Thank you so much. Great. Rick, after Rick, we'll go to Stuart. Rick. 305 \ 00:35:13.970 --> 00:35:18.490 \ Ric Casale: Thanks very much, Lisa, amazing, amazing project, amazing work. 306 \ 00:35:18.650 --> 00:35:35.749 \ Ric Casale: My… sorry, it was two questions. The first was actually to understand where you were in the, the rollout, so it's obviously relatively early. And then just to clarify, in terms of the rollout, you're going after, initially, those people that already have… 307 \ 00:35:35.870 --> 00:35:38.340 \ Ric Casale: The households already have, 308 \ 00:35:39.020 --> 00:35:54.370 \ Ric Casale: electricity generating capacity and batteries, but you mentioned that the project is intended to help alleviate some of the fuel poverty. So you're starting with those that have, because the infrastructure's in place, and then building it out. 309 \ 00:35:54.500 --> 00:35:55.610 \ Ric Casale: To the people that don't. 310 \ 00:35:55.610 --> 00:35:56.270 \ Lisa Beaney: Come on. 311 \ 00:35:56.410 --> 00:36:09.870 \ Lisa Beaney: Yes, and it's not just people that have energy generating capacity. The… the plan has always been to put batteries into the homes of people that don't have and can't have solar. 312 \ 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:15.099 \ Lisa Beaney: Because we have a large number of flats on the island that 313 \ 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:21.950 \ Lisa Beaney: Won't ever be able to have solar panels on the roof, but would be able to have a battery at home. 314 \ 00:36:22.530 --> 00:36:36.199 \ Lisa Beaney: Then we'll be using the income from the project to fund further batteries, along with a community share raise. We've set up a community benefit society that will handle this project. 315 \ 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:38.480 \ Lisa Beaney: So that we can… 316 \ 00:36:39.030 --> 00:36:46.980 \ Lisa Beaney: We can raise the capital through a community share raise, and there will most probably be 2 or 3 different stages of that. 317 \ 00:36:47.160 --> 00:36:58.139 \ Lisa Beaney: There'll be one stage initially, I think, to cover some of the community batteries that we want to put in place at places like local cricket Club and a community hall. 318 \ 00:36:58.650 --> 00:37:04.899 \ Lisa Beaney: Because that gives us the biggest immediate benefit. And then we use the 319 \ 00:37:05.850 --> 00:37:14.600 \ Lisa Beaney: The additional income that those batteries create to fund the smaller batteries that we'll be providing for free for people. 320 \ 00:37:15.700 --> 00:37:16.330 \ Ric Casale: Thank you. 321 \ 00:37:17.160 --> 00:37:25.130 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: All your answers, Lisa, is making the whole project even more impressive, thank you. Stuart, your turn, sir. 322 \ 00:37:25.130 --> 00:37:29.230 \ Cllr Stuart Withington Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I'd just like to say thank you, an amazing bit of work. 323 \ 00:37:29.800 --> 00:37:34.699 \ Cllr Stuart Withington Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I'm… I'm… Does the island have, mains gas? 324 \ 00:37:36.390 --> 00:37:41.459 \ Lisa Beaney: It has some. About 40% of the island isn't connected to mains gas. 325 \ 00:37:42.010 --> 00:37:48.510 \ Lisa Beaney: We still have about 2,000 properties on the island that have oil heating. 326 \ 00:37:48.650 --> 00:37:49.360 \ Lisa Beaney: Yeah. 327 \ 00:37:49.470 --> 00:37:54.319 \ Lisa Beaney: We have about 2,500 used bottled gas. 328 \ 00:37:54.840 --> 00:38:05.129 \ Lisa Beaney: And the remainder of the off-grid properties primarily use electricity, so that's the old-style night storage heaters. We do still have 329 \ 00:38:05.270 --> 00:38:10.579 \ Lisa Beaney: I think it's now down to less than 50 properties that burn coal for their heating. 330 \ 00:38:11.380 --> 00:38:16.429 \ Cllr Stuart Withington Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Okay, thanks. And how does the metering actually work for the individuals? 331 \ 00:38:17.450 --> 00:38:19.690 \ Lisa Beaney: People have to have a smart meter. 332 \ 00:38:19.690 --> 00:38:20.260 \ Cllr Stuart Withington Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yep. 333 \ 00:38:20.710 --> 00:38:33.769 \ Lisa Beaney: And that gives us the half-hourly readings. But the batteries and inverters also monitor how much energy and when is imported and exported. 334 \ 00:38:34.210 --> 00:38:39.399 \ Lisa Beaney: And it's from that that we get a lot of our data. 335 \ 00:38:39.940 --> 00:38:41.200 \ Lisa Beaney: But it's… 336 \ 00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:53.270 \ Lisa Beaney: It's splitting the revenue between what goes directly to the household, because our estimates show that each household should 337 \ 00:38:53.510 --> 00:39:00.610 \ Lisa Beaney: Be able to get between £100 and £300 a year reduction on their energy bill through this. 338 \ 00:39:01.020 --> 00:39:05.040 \ Lisa Beaney: And then the project will make most of its money from 339 \ 00:39:05.160 --> 00:39:11.520 \ Lisa Beaney: The… the aggregation of the flexibility markets and the income from that. 340 \ 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:13.520 \ Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration, Gloucestershire: Wow. 341 \ 00:39:15.260 --> 00:39:21.280 \ Cllr Stuart Withington Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, I was just given planning permission, and I hadn't heard of these before, but a roadside… *** #### Markdown of the presentation: ## Isle of Wight Social Virtual Power Plant **10th June 2026** *** ## Slide 2 – Average energy efficiency *(Graphic only – no extractable text.)* *** ## Slide 3 – Green Isle of Wight ### Green Isle of Wight *A community interest company working for a greener, fairer Isle of Wight.* #### What we do * Run local projects that cut carbon and improve daily life. * Work with communities to design practical, affordable solutions. * Help people access advice, support, and trusted partners. *** ## Slide 4 – Our mission ### Lower bills over time Make it easier for households to save money on electricity — especially those who need it most. ### Local energy, used locally Keep more of the Island's clean energy on the Island — storing it when there's extra, using it later. ### A fairer transition * Community ownership and shared benefits — not just for people who can afford new technology. * A **fair energy transition** for the Isle of Wight. *** ## Slide 5 – What's the problem? *(Title slide introducing the problem.)* *** ## Slide 6 – Grid capacity: a quick view * Screenshot of the SSEN **Generation Availability / Network Capacity** map. *** ## Slide 7 – Fuel poverty: a quick snapshot | Area | Fuel Poverty | | --------------------- | ------------ | | South East of England | **9.65%** | | Isle of Wight | **13.13%** | *Source: DESNZ Sub-regional Fuel Poverty Data* > Different sources use different definitions — but the message is clear: **too many households are struggling with energy costs.** *** ## Slide 8 – There are also social challenges 1. An ageing population 2. Lower than average incomes 3. One of the UK's most "left behind" areas 4. An island with limited power connections *** ## Slide 9 – So, what is the solution? *(Title slide.)* *** ## Slide 10 – What is "Power Together"? ### A network of home batteries working together like one shared community battery. #### Batteries in homes Installed in multiple homes across the Island. #### Smart control Software controls charging and discharging. #### Works as one Together they act like a much larger battery. #### Benefit Savings and value are shared locally. **Comparison** * One large battery owned by a commercial company * **100–200 smaller batteries** hosted in homes and community buildings *** ## Slide 11 *(Graphic only.)* *** ## Slide 12 – How Power Together helps ### Three simple outcomes #### Lower bills Use stored electricity during expensive periods to reduce peak-rate purchases. #### Warmer homes Cheaper energy helps households heat their homes with greater confidence. #### Community benefits Surplus income supports: * advice * home upgrades * future community projects *** ## Slide 13 – Who can take part? ### Households Home batteries where suitable, with support to make joining easy. ### Community buildings Shared batteries helping spread benefits locally. ### Small businesses Businesses can also participate, helping the project expand and generate additional income. *** ## Slide 14 – How the project earns income Think of it as a stack of building blocks: 1. **Using cheaper electricity** * Charge when electricity is cheap. * Use it later when prices are higher. 2. **Helping balance the national system** * Provide rapid support when required. 3. **Supporting the local network** * Absorb surplus solar generation. * Reduce peak demand. 4. **Future value** * Take advantage of emerging flexibility markets and services. *** ## Slide 15 – How this helps our grid ### Before * Solar generation can exceed local grid capacity. * Evening demand strains the network. * Upgrades are slow and expensive. ### After * Excess solar stored locally. * Stored energy supports peak demand. * Network pressure reduced without major reinforcement. *** ## Slide 16 *(Closing message slide with no extractable text.)* *** ## Slide 17 ## Any questions? *** --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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