A £10.8m project is to be carried out on the Isles of Scilly to provide a global model on how electric vehicles and home batteries can be used in smart energy systems.

The £10.8m project is to be carried out on the remote Isles of Scilly.

The Smart Energy Islands (SEI) project, part financed by £8.6m from the European Regional Development Fund, will see smart home battery company Moixa develop platforms allowing electric vehicles and smart home batteries to be used to help balance supply and demand within the islands’ energy system.

The Electric Vehicle Management System will control and optimise how electric car batteries can be used by the islands’ energy system. It will develop learning algorithms to ensure that when electric vehicles are deployed they are maintained at a state of charge best able to support the energy system and the needs of their users.

Moixa’s systems will integrate with an Internet of Things (IoT) platform developed by Hitachi Europe, which is leading the SEI project. It will use home batteries, electric vehicles and smart heating technologies to balance supply and demand of electricity.

The Isles of Scilly were chosen for their project due to their remote location, 28 miles from the UK mainland, which means the 2,200 islanders have no gas supply and rely heavily on imported fossil fuels and electricity to meet their needs. This results in one of the UK’s highest household electricity consumption levels. The SEI project will see rooftop solar PV systems installed in 100 homes, a tenth of the island’s housing stock, and two 50kW solar gardens will be built.

The SEI project lays the foundations for the wider Smart Islands programme, which aims by 2025 to cut electricity bills by 40%, meet 40% of energy demand through renewables, and see 40% of vehicles being electric or low-carbon.