BEN Partners
BEN Consortium
The BEN Consortium consists of the partners who were drawn together under the leadership of ICAX to deliver the first Balanced Energy Network at London South Bank University as part of the Innovate UK funded BEN Project:
ICAX
ICAX has developed Interseasonal Heat Transfer to enable buildings to be heated in winter with solar energy captured in the previous summer.
ICAX provides turnkey packages for meeting sustainable energy targets on construction projects and undertakes design and installation to ensure that heating and cooling needs are met in a sustainable way by recycling energy. ICAX provides a complete range of services from initial feasibility through thermal modelling, design and delivery, to in use maintenance.
ICAX designs incorporate heat pumps, solar collectors, thermal energy storage in the ground and electronic control systems to balance the temperature in buildings with the ground they stand on.
London South Bank University
The Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings, CEREB, is London South Bank University's unique teaching, research and demonstration resource for the built environment, hosting a number of renewable and intelligent energy solutions.
Upside Energy
Upside Energy provides flexibility to the energy system. It has built a cloud service that uses advanced algorithms to orchestrate hundreds of thousands of energy storage and other electrical devices to create a Virtual Energy Store that can be used to increase security of supply while reducing the cost and environmental impact of energy.
Upside works with stakeholders across the system – device owners, manufacturers, transmission and distribution networks, energy suppliers – to unlock the value in equipment already installed in households, commercial and industrial sites.
As part of the BEN Consortium, Upside has integrated the heat pumps and thermal buffers of the BEN network at LSBU into its service, thus enabling the network to benefit from providing services to the grid without compromising the efficiency of the heating and cooling services it provides to LSBU.
Mixergy
Mixergy has developed heavily insulated domestic hot water tanks with novel inlet stratification to allow extended thermal energy storage. Mixergy can exploit the cheap rate electricity negotiated by Upside to heat DHW when prices are cheapest (often at night). Mixergy can exploit a "demand response" by reaction to a low price signal from the Grid via Upside. Other users of electricity in the Balanced Energy Network, such as heat pumps, can take advantage of cheaper tariffs for restricted periods in the same way.
Origen Power
Origen Power and Cranfield University are developing a fuel cell calciner to enable electricity to be generated in a way that removes CO2 from the atmosphere.
Cranfield University
Origen Power and Cranfield University are developing a fuel cell calciner to enable electricity to be generated in a way that removes CO2 from the atmosphere.
Terra Firma Ground Investigation
Terra Firma Ground Investigation has expertise in open and closed loop borehole drilling for exploiting ground source energy for clean heating.
See timelapse video of borehole drilling at LSBU.
GLA
The GLA is contributing to the BEN Consortium as a stakeholder with an interest in maintaining and protecting London's environment and resources (water, energy and waste) and ensuring that they are used more efficiently. The Greater London Authority is working to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in London, to help tackle climate change and increase the city's resilience to extreme weather.
Winckworth Sherwood
Winckworth Sherwood is contributing time to advise on resolving the legal barriers to establishing district heating networks.
BEN Stakeholder Committee
In addition to the Partners Meetings, The BEN Project has benefited from the BEN Stakeholders Committee where representatives from the City of London, Engie, Green Investment Group (formerly Green Investment Bank), Lend Lease, Singleton Birch, South Bank Employers' Group, UK Power Networks and Wellcome Trust have provided advice to the BEN Consortium.
