Renewable energy
The challenge
The Mayor of London and the Royal Docks Team are looking for innovators to develop solutions that will use the water area for renewable energy production.
The Royal Docks water area, made up of three key Docks – Royal Victoria, Royal Albert and King George V, in the London Borough of Newham. Restrictions may apply, such as physical constraints, lease agreements, management and safety requirements and more.
Partners (businesses, landlords, developers), residents and local enterprise zone projects across the Royal Docks, local developments and their tenants (such as at Albert Island), the Royal Docks Management Authority (RoDMA) and London City Airport.
- The Royal Docks water is the area’s most significant physical asset (250 acres). However, it is underutilised and offers good opportunity for development, activation and the promotion of innovative new uses.
- The Royal Docks is undergoing significant regeneration but currently lacks sufficient power capacity to meet the growing demands of future development.
- The Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Borough of Newham have committed to addressing the climate emergency. Urban environments contribute significantly to climate change through high energy consumption. Measures must be developed at a local scale to address this.
- Developing innovative new uses for the water, promoting innovation and addressing climate change are all key themes of the Royal Docks delivery plan.
- A holistic water use strategy is being developed by the Royal Docks Team for which renewable energy production is a potential future use highlighted for integration.
- The Royal Docks Enterprise Zone has broader aspirations to become a home for green business innovation in London. Extracting renewable energy from the dock water will provide indirect support to this vision by helping the area become attractive to investors in this field.
The solution
Develop a proof of concept for renewable energy production utilising the Royal Docks water area, leading to a transferable, scalable and commercially viable prototype for the generation of renewable energy that is usable by local customers, such as businesses, landlords, developers, residents and other projects.
- A proof of concept which utilises the Royal Docks water as a primary resource to generate renewable energy.
- A physical prototype that generates renewable energy.
- Has the potential to be transferable, scalable and commercially viable, with real-world applications.
- Tests the opportunities, constraints & technical requirements needed for successful delivery.
- The concept is not expected to be carbon neutral, but its scalable application must be.
- Can deliver power locally and connect into the local grid, creating affordable energy for end users.
- A physical prototype developed and its application tested in the production of renewable energy in the Royal Docks.
- Power delivered to the local grid, or directly to local consumers.
- Longer-term impact includes significant production of clean and renewable energy in the Royal Docks area.
- Longer-term impact also includes scaling to other water areas.
Winners and finalists
Each team will receive £10,000 and the opportunity to work closely over five weeks with the Resilience Partner behind their challenge – which include councils, government agencies, BIDs and charities – to develop their solution. They’ll also receive specialised support in service design, pitch coaching, data usage, navigating government procurement processes and more.
At the end of the first phase, the judges will review each team’s progress and choose one winner in each challenge, to be awarded £40,000 each and the chance to implement their solution.
The Royal Docks Floating Solar Project is being developed by Renewable Connections and its European partners, European Energy A/S. The project will make a significant contribution London’s low carbon strategy and if implemented, could provide clean, green, renewable electricity for over 40 years, displacing electricity produced from traditional fossil fuels.
The Project proposes to install a floating solar array in London’s Royal Docks to provide clean renewable energy directly to London’s City Airport, as well as other local customers. Currently in the early test phase, Renewable Connections is working closely with the Royal Docks Management Authority and City Airport’s safeguarding team to make sure the project is technically suitable.
Renewable Connections is hugely excited to be leading this project in collaboration with so many progressive stakeholders. Projects like this can make a real contribution to tackling the climate emergency and will highlight London as a global leader in sustainable economic development.
ZEV London provides an alternative type of renewable energy production – converting EV-taxi platform into a citizen renewable energy (RE) farm on blockchain. The new RE capacity is then tokenised on blockchain and given back to passengers as RE tokens to create incentive to use again. As the number of passengers grows, the RE farm becomes decentralised and citizen-owned, further encouraging crowd participation in transport and energy decarbonisation.
Our plan is to build a floating solar farm to utilise the Royal Docks water area to generate renewable energy and form an initial blockchain token pool.
Babylon-Blue’s floating communities consist of vessels which can utilise the Dock water and other natural sources such as solar, wind and water source heating and cooling systems to produce renewable, optimised through energy storage and distribution. Their Aquantum active-hull system combines this renewable heat and electrical energy production, storage, sustainable design and materials, resource efficiency and other innovative approaches.
The Renewable Energy Challenge presents an exciting opportunity for our Babylon-Blue floating vessels to come closer to realising our vision of being self-sufficient and ‘off-grid’, creating a beacon of resilience for the Royal Docks and the wider London and re-defining the future of sustainable and affordable water living.
About the partner
The Royal Docks is London’s only Enterprise Zone — one of only 48 in the country. Enterprise Zones are part of the government’s industrial strategy and are designated areas that provide tax breaks and other business incentives. The Royal Docks Team is a joint initiative from the Mayor of London and Mayor of Newham tasked to drive an ambitious £314m regeneration programme across the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone. The Royal Docks Team is made up of circa 40 people operating across development, placemaking, events, economic development, cultural activation, community engagement, communication and marketing.
- Access to team information and data across the water, including its physical and technical makeup, ownership, constraints and opportunities.
- Partnership facilitation with water users, management organisations and local stakeholders (such as University of East London (UEL), Royal Docks Management Authority (RoDMA), London & Regional (L&R) and others).
- Facilitate a project scoping workshop.
- Participate in working groups and project reviews as required.
- Access to space on the docks water to test concepts (restrictions may apply) - It is anticipated that the water area at King George V Dock would be most appropriate.
- If successful, marketing and promotional support beyond the Resilience Fund offer.
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