Using Demand Flexing to Transform Indoor Farms into Renewable Energy Assets

在这个项目中，我们将展示如何协调可再生能源的供应和能源支出，使佩斯园艺设施成为不断发展的智能能源电网的一项资产。今年春季超市货架上水果和蔬菜的短缺是由多种因素造成的，包括高能源价格阻碍英国种植者在2021/22年冬季种植受保护的园艺作物。照明、供暖和通风都为种植者带来了能源账单，但照明可能占室内农场这些成本的70%，而且光照强度立即对能源消耗做出反应(与供暖和通风在较长时间内变化不同)。我们的最终目标是让佩斯园艺基础设施成为电网的“可转移负载”。这种类型的需求灵活性管理通常部署在复杂的、时间关键的工业过程中，在这些过程中，如果最终产品在可接受的公差范围内，则电力消耗计划可能会发生变化。需求弹性具有显著的商业优势，随着可控(化石燃料)能源发电量在电力供应中所占比例的下降，需求弹性将变得越来越重要。尽管需求弹性在PACE园艺中具有潜在的优势，但我们仍然需要确定不同的光照对作物生长的影响。植物根据当时的环境条件改变它们的发育。因此，不同的光照制度会在所生产的作物中产生变化。我们可以通过基因操作控制植物对光的反应的信号通路来控制这种“发育可塑性”。我们将评估以前产生的‘永恒’植物(我们设计的对光信号的统一反应)在应用需求弹性时是否能够更好地保持作物的产量、质量和一致性。在这个项目中，我们有三个明显的目标；1)我们需要证明需求弹性在Pace园艺中是适用的，这样我们就可以在最大化作物产量的同时优化能源利用。2)我们需要了解需求弹性如何与现有的灵活光照制度相结合，以最大限度地提高作物的产量和质量。3)我们需要确认我们的转基因植物在需求弹性期间具有一致的表现，以便我们能够最大限度地提高作物生产力并实现净零目标。目标我们将利用我们对作物光生物学和现有遗传资源的了解，了解如何最好地将需求弹性应用于Pace园艺。1)我们将评估种植的作物的生长和生化特征2)我们将评估需求弹性如何与不同的光照制度相结合，以最大限度地提高作物产量。3)我们将评估PACE园艺中“永恒”植物的表现，以便我们能够在应用需求弹性时最大限度地提高作物生产率。应用和优势在不断发展的智能电网中，PACE园艺作为灵活资产的定位将为种植者带来商业利益，并将提高行业的生存能力。PACE园艺商业可行性的提高将允许基础设施与可再生能源发电场地一起分布。这种分布式生产将产生社会效益，而不仅仅是其产品本身所带来的社会效益。例如，在社区内分散放置较小规模的室内农场将减少粮食里程，并在这些地区提供就业机会，从而实现能源使用的公正过渡。

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.