Bath and West Community Energy (BWCE) working with Avalon Community Energy (ACE) are looking for heat pump or electric vehicle charge point owners in Shepton Mallet to participate in an action research project to help the move towards a low carbon electricity grid.

The research will take place over five months from March 1 to July 31 2021. Participants could earn up to £5 to £75 per year (pro rata over the five months) for being included.

BWCE are a community-owned renewable energy organisation. Through BWCE's Flex Community programme, which they are running with smart energy developers Stemy Energy, they are exploring how domestic customers can help the electricity grid better manage supply and demand, especially at peak time.

They are doing this by creating more flexibility, enabling householders to automatically switch their electricity use to a different time of day when there is less congestion on the electricity grid.

Householders will remain in control and be able to set system limits so they still receive the level of energy services they need.

Ultimately, they will be helping householders to install heat pumps and electric vehicle charge points as part of a European-wide project.

Initially, though, they are looking for a small group of participants who already have one of these technologies installed to take part in the research.

In order to join the project you must fulfil the following criteria:

• Live in the Shepton Mallet area, where flexibility is required to balance demand and supply.
• Have a heat pump or electric vehicle charge point which is flex ready. What they mean by this is that it can connect to Stemy Energy's smart technology, which in turn, talks to the local electricity grid and offers flexibility. Once you apply to join BWCE will check your device's compatibility with the Stemy Energy smart technology.

• Allow Stemy Energy's smart technology to control your electricity consumption from your heat pump or electric vehicle charge point (within limits set by you in advance) between 8am to noon and/or 4pm to 8pm (Monday to Friday only) between March 1 and July 31 2021.
• Share your electricity consumption data with Stemy Energy. To avoid burdening you this will be done automatically by them installing a small monitoring device at no cost to you.

BCWE are we doing this to support the transition to a low carbon energy grid through supporting demand management and flexibility, to address barriers to domestic customers participating in flexibility services by making services simpler and more accessible, to investigate the potential for householders to earn income from providing flexibility, and to investigate the impact of flexibility services on carbon emissions.

To apply, fill in an Expression of Interest, which can be found here.