Cornwall Lays Foundations for the Development of the UK’s First Smart Energy System

Cornwall Lays Foundations for the Development of the UK’s First Smart Energy System

The Smart Cornwall Business Development project has announced the initial results of its ambitious initiative to develop the UK’s first fully integrated smart energy system, which will deliver intelligent and efficient local energy supplies.

The project has already attracted international interest from companies such as Hitachi, which has set up a Cornwall based operation. In addition, Cornwall has been working closely with the Taiwanese Institute of Economic Research and the Korean Smart Grid Institute. It also has a Memorandum of Understanding in place with the Jeollanam-do Province, Korea.

More locally, the Smart Cornwall Business Development project has been working with small enterprises to inform them on how to benefit from the project, with thirty businesses benefitting from assistance from the Project to date. The assistance has ranged from marketing and promotion of smart energy systems, supporting knowledge transfer with European businesses in the sector and a review of future smart energy investment opportunities.

The project has drawn upon the European Regional Development Fund support for Enterprise & Investment to encourage sector development, in particular the growth of the environmental technologies sector to create a major new industry in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly.

Matthew Vowels from Cornwall Development Company commented: “The Smart Cornwall Project has brought many organisations together to create a strategic network, which has provided the foundations on which to design future, realistic and targeted delivery activity with support from the new ESIF Growth Programme. Cornwall is at the forefront of the UKs renewable energy industry and the Smart Cornwall Project has developed new collaborations and identified several new investment themes to offer continued support to its evolution.”

Ward Williams Associates have been one of the companies to receive business support through this project and work with a range of clients highlighting the Smart sector opportunities across smart energy and the financial and social benefits it can offer.

WWA have several active projects and programmes with domestic and international clients, which aim to integrate smart-thinking into major commercial developments. These include reviewing estates potential for smart and renewable energy and offering specialist funding expertise to deliver these models.

The support offered from the Smart Cornwall project provided additional business support, which enabled WWA to establish a new series of strategic programme and project management services, smart-sector support and funding consultancy now being delivered through a dedicated new business within the WWA Group, Integrated Ward Williams Associates (iWWA).

Andrew Snapes, Director of Ward Williams Associates said: “The support from the Smart Cornwall project enabled us to attend the Smart City World Congress and the information gleaned has now directly informed our future business plans in establishing iWWA. The project was pivotal in providing us with the support needed to put Smart energy on centre stage, and our consultancy role in the delivery of smart-sector projects to the fore.”