Using Demand Flexing to Transform Indoor Farms into Renewable Energy Assets

利用需求弹性将室内农场转变为可再生能源资产

• 批准号: BB/Z514469/1
• 负责人: Matthew Jones
• 金额: $ 35.52万
• 依托单位: University of Glasgow
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FZ514469%2F1
• 关键词: Using; Demand; Flexing; Transform; Indoor

In this project we will demonstrate how coordinating renewable energy availability with energy expenditure enables PACE horticulture facilities to be an asset to the evolving smart energy grid.The lack of fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves this spring arose from a multitude of factors, including high energy prices discouraging UK growers from planting protected horticultural crops during winter 2021/22. Lighting, heating, and ventilation each contribute to energy bills for growers but lighting can comprise 70% of these costs in indoor farms and light intensity is immediately responsive to energy consumption (in contrast to heating and ventilation which vary over longer time periods). Our ultimate goal is to allow PACE horticulture infrastructure to present itself as a "shiftable load" to the electricity grid. This type of demand flexibility management is often deployed in complex, time-critical industrial processes where power consumption schedules can be varied provided that the final product falls within acceptable tolerances. Demand flexing has significant commercial advantages and will be increasingly important as controllable (fossil fuel) energy generation decreases as a proportion of our electricity supply.Despite the potential advantages of demand flexing for PACE horticulture we still need to determine how crop growth is affected by varied light irradiation. Plants alter their development dependent on prevailing environmental conditions. Varied light regimes consequently produce variation within the crops produced. We can control this 'developmental plasticity' by genetically manipulating the signalling pathways which control plants responses to light. We will assess whether previously generated 'timeless' plants (which we have designed to respond uniformly to light signals) are better able to maintain crop yield, quality, and uniformity when demand flexing is applied.In this project we have three distinct aims;1) We need to demonstrate that demand flexing is applicable in PACE horticulture so that we can optimise energy usage whilst maximising crop productivity.2) We need to understand how demand flexing can be integrated with existing flexible light regimes to maximise crop yield and quality.3) We need to confirm that our genetically engineered 'timeless' plants have uniform performance during demand flexing so that we can maximise crop productivity and achieve Net Zero goals.ObjectivesWe will exploit our understanding of crop photobiology and existing genetic resources to understand how best to apply demand flexing to PACE horticulture.1) We will assess the growth and biochemical characteristics of crops grown under exemplar demand flexing schemes to demonstrate the utility of this approach.2) We will assess how demand flexing can be integrated with a varied light regime to maximise crop yield.3) We will assess the performance of 'timeless' plants in PACE horticulture so that we can maximise crop productivity during the application of demand flexing.Applications and BenefitsThe positioning of PACE horticulture as flexible assets in the evolving smart electricity grid will have commercial benefits for growers and will enhance the viability of the industry. Increased commercial viability of PACE horticulture will allow the distribution of infrastructure alongside sites of renewable energy generation. This distributed production will have societal benefits beyond those conferred by their produce alone. For instance, a distributed placement of smaller scale indoor farms within communities will reduce food mileage and provide job opportunities within these areas, enabling a Just Transition in energy use.

在这个项目中，我们将展示如何协调可再生能源可用性与能源消耗的协调能力使园艺设施成为不断发展的智能能源网格的资产。今年春天，超市货架上缺乏水果和蔬菜架子，源于多种因素，包括众多因素，包括在冬季2021/221/2221/2221/props proppling flanting Horterutult Craps deplant flanting Horterutult crops tocters proppling受保护的hortecult craps crops。照明，加热和通风每种都会有助于种植者的能源费用，但照明可以占室内农场中的70％，而光强度立即响应能源消耗（与较长时间段变化的加热和通风相反）。我们的最终目标是允许PACE园艺基础设施作为电网的“可转移负载”表现出来。这种需求灵活性管理通常在复杂的，关键时期的工业过程中部署，如果最终产品属于可接受的公差，则可以改变功耗时间表。需求弯曲具有明显的商业优势，并且随着我们的电力供应的一定比例而降低的可控（化石燃料）能源的降低将变得越来越重要。尽管有需求的潜在优势，但我们仍然需要确定农作物的生长如何受到不同光照射的影响。植物改变其发展取决于主要的环境条件。因此，各种光制制度在产生的农作物中产生变化。我们可以通过基因操纵控制植物对光的响应的信号通路来控制这种“发育塑性”。我们将评估先前生成的“永恒”植物（我们旨在对光信号均匀做出响应）是否能够保持作物产量，质量和均匀性，当需要弯曲时。在该项目中，我们有三个不同的目的； 1）我们需要证明需求弯曲适用于速度的柔性，以便在速度上柔性，以使我们的最大程度地提高效率，以便我们可以在最大程度地延伸。 3）我们需要确认，我们的基因工程“永恒”植物在需求期间具有统一的性能，以便我们可以最大程度地提高作物生产率并实现净零目标，Obigntives我们利用了对作物光生物学的理解和对现有的遗传资源的理解，以了解如何将需求的生长范围置于繁殖方面。 2）我们将评估需求弯曲方案。2）我们将评估需求弯曲如何与各种光制制度集成以最大化作物的收益率。3）我们将评估园艺中“永恒”植物的性能，以便在应用程序的应用中，在应用程序中最大程度地提高了求职范围的范围，以使求职的范围和福利范围的范围提高范围，并使求职范围均匀地定位。为种植者带来商业利益，并将提高行业的生存能力。速度园艺的商业生存能力提高将允许基础设施与可再生能源产生的地点一起分布。这种分布的生产将获得社会利益，而不是仅由其农产品赋予的收益。例如，在社区内部较小规模的室内农场的分布式放置将减少食品里程，并在这些地区提供工作机会，从而实现能源使用的公正过渡。