Cenex, the UK’s first centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, has announced the installation of the first domestic, UK built electric vehicle-to-grid unit in the UK.

Developed through the Ebbs and Flows of Energy Systems (EFES) project, this is an innovative new system installed in Loughborough to power a home through the owner’s electric vehicle (EV).

This UK installation will allow project partners to understand the management and interaction of EVs as battery storage within a domestic property and how this can be incorporated into the wider energy system.

EFES is a collaborative project, through which a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) unit has been developed by Potenza Technology, a control unit developed by Moixa Technology, and the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) developed by Cardiff University.

Funded in part by Innovate UK and EPSRC, the £1.8m project is being completed over three years, and is expected to be delivered by December 2017.

Cenex is using project data to understand the business case for domestic scale V2G in the UK, and believes this successful installation will act as a catalyst for future innovation.

Once installed, the V2G unit will also represent one of the UK pilots for the SEEV4-City project, a European project part funded by Interreg North Sea Region.

This project aims to support the transition to a low carbon economy in European cities, by combining EVs, renewable generation and smart energy management. 

Robert Evans, CEO at Cenex, said: "Installation of the UK’s first domestic V2G unit marks a significant landmark for the country’s manufacturing and innovation, not to mention our efforts to move toward a low carbon economy.”