Irish tech company software saves 300,000kWh of energy on Wexford wind farm

Irish software company NovoGrid recently completed a two-year pilot project on a wind farm in Wexford aiming to optimise energy supply.

Using GridBoost, NovoGrid’s proprietary grid edge intelligence software, the wind farm saved over 300,000kWh of renewable electricity during the project period. This is enough to power 70 Irish homes for a year.

This electricity would have previously been lost in delivery on the grid.

GridBoost is a patented energy optimisation technology which automates and removes inefficiencies in renewable generators and electrical grid operations.

UCD spin-out

It was developed by Professor Andrew Keane and his team at University College Dublin. NovoGrid, a UCD spin-out company, was established to commercialise the technology.

Keane, who is a professor in UCD, said that the pilot project completed on SSE Renewable’s Richfield wind farm was a “key milestone” for the company.

“The world is shifting away from fossil fuels to decentralised energy resources. Technologies such as GridBoost are needed by grid operators and renewable generators to manage that transition in an efficient and rapidly scalable way,” he said.

Potential

A 2015 Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)-funded report found that installing GridBoost across the Irish wind farm fleet would save Irish energy customers €2.2m in costs and 16,300t of CO2 per year.

NovoGrid’s GridBoost is already installed in a number of wind farms in the UK and trials are also under way in Germany.