The Association for Decentralised Energy's annual awards are the leading and most prestigious celebration of those involved in decentralised energy, recognising and celebrating the people and projects which have developed truly innovative solutions designed around the needs of the user.

The Awards showcase innovation, best practice and notable achievements across heat, efficiency, power and flexibility. The winners will be announced at the ADE’s annual gala dinner, which will take place on Wednesday 12th June at Church House, Westminster. We are delighted that InstaGroup are again sponsoring the event, notably the post-dinner drinks!

Project: Heat – sponsored by Amberside Advisors

Bristol Heat Network – Vattenfall, in partnership with Bristol City Leap
Bristol City Leap is a twenty-year joint venture between Bristol City Council, Ameresco and Vattenfall Heat UK aiming to deliver more than £1 billion of investment into Bristol’s energy system. The Bristol Heat Network, owned and operated by Vattenfall Heat UK, is integral to this partnership and will provide over 120GWh of low carbon heat across the city by 2028.

Clapham Park, London – Hemiko and Ener-Vate
MTVH - in partnership with Countryside Partnerships and in collaboration with Hemiko and Ener-Vate - is delivering and transforming the Clapham Park development by bringing forward installation of heat pump technology in place of planning-approved gas fired CHP plant. This early decision making will result in the decarbonisation of over 3,000 affordable homes, a nursery and a care home.

Greenwich Millennium Village (West) – Switch2 Energy
Switch2 is revolutionising the Greenwich Millennium Village heat network with a trailblazing pro-consumer configuration, that intelligently selects heat sources from across the site according to the customer demand. The upgrade forecasts a 65% reduction in customer callouts and save 726 tonnes of carbon annually, replacing 20+ year old third generation energy centres with an integrated energy scheme, along with a robust internal dwelling upgrade, part funded by HNES.

Normanton Leisure Centre, Wakefield – Clade Engineering Systems
This project, funded by the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, showcases Clade's engineering innovation in addressing energy and heating challenges. Clade designed, manufactured, and installed a 350KW air source CO2 heat pump at a local swimming pool, overcoming issues like noise and limited power supply. The project has revitalized an old heating system, resulting in satisfied users and staff and will deliver 99 tons of CO2 saving every year.

The Weedington Estate, Camden – Cenergist
The Weedington Estate is a large housing estate in Camden. It consists of 532 properties across 8 blocks. The scope of work was to design and deliver a full district heating system replacement, from the energy centre through to radiators. The new system design will see gas consumption savings of £43,000 per year and significant O&M servicing savings of £25,000 each year.

Project: Energy Efficiency – sponsored by Ricardo

Delivering deep retrofit for homes in Ealing – InstaGroup
This deep retrofit project for 90-year old social housing properties required a unique solution to overcome the problems of heat loss and high energy bills. InstaGroup worked with Ealing Council and various contractors to deliver complex ‘whole house’ solutions at scale. Homes were brought up to minimum Net Zero energy standard, becoming warmer, more desirable places to live.

Behind-the-Meter Microgrid, Medway Park Sports Centre – SSE Energy Solutions
Inefficient and oversized boilers (2.4MW) were replaced with new 3 x 318kW condensing gas boilers with a reconfiguration of the plant room. The project included installation of a 200kWp rooftop solar PV array coupled with a 100kW/375kWh Energy Storage System managed by a new integrated Heat & Power Smart Control System to optimise building services and energy assets. Total annual savings are 139 tCO2.

SmartParc, Derby – Veolia
Completed in July 2023, SmartParc is the first of its kind in the UK, designed to reduce the carbon footprint of food production via shared energy and low carbon technologies. Veolia designed and installed 9.8km of pre-insulated pipework that provides both heating and cooling to the 2 million sq ft campus hub situated in Derby.

Project: Industrial Energy - sponsored by Veolia

Symmetry BasePower, Biggleswade - BasePower
A major new logistics park faced significant delays due to insufficient grid capacity. BasePower conceived, developed, procured and now manages a UK-first Energy Centre which provides a mains-parallel but grid-independent 2MVA power supply with 99.9% uptime as part of a sustainable energy mix including rooftop solar PV, providing a pathway to net-zero carbon.

British Sugar Wissington Site – British Sugar
As part of British Sugar’s decarbonisation roadmap, this project was the first major investment to deliver a step-change reduction in onsite energy usage and carbon emissions. The project installed additional evaporators, heat exchangers and associated processing equipment to enable a significant reduction in steam required in sugar manufacturing by achieving a substantial improvement in energy efficiency.

Project: Flexibility

GivBack – Axle Energy
In partnership with GivEnergy, Axle Energy launched the GivBack scheme. GivEnergy battery owners can automatically participate in winter peak shaving events and receive cash payments for doing so. Axle’s algorithms dispatch users’ batteries completely automatically - and over 4000 home batteries have participated. Over £100,000 has already been earned by GivEnergy battery owners.

Kraken SmartFlex – Kraken Technologies
SmartFlex – Kraken’s module for intelligent demand - is a fully-integrated product that harnesses flexibility from all major consumer energy assets – unlocking value for consumers and utilities with significantly lower rates to consumers and aggregated demand for grid management. SmartFlex powers the world’s largest smart charging virtual power plant with 128,000 devices and 800MW connected devices. SmartFlex powers Octopus’s Intelligent Octopus product and is available to license by other Kraken customers.

Power-Ups – UK Power Networks and Octopus Energy
UK Power Networks’ Power-Ups initiative is a novel collaboration that is setting out to get more green energy into people’s homes while keeping the energy network operating safely. The project, implemented in conjunction with Octopus Energy, is a first-of-its-kind programme that provides residents with discounted electricity when renewable energy is in abundance. The programme, which responds to grid operator signals, has already helped shift 1.6 GWh of consumption to avoid curtailment to date.

Project: Energy Smart Places - Sponsored by Bevan Brittan

Hammersmith & Fulham Civic Campus - Elevate Everywhere
By mapping the site’s unique natural ecosystem and the community's needs, we designed an open loop ground source heat pump energy solution for Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s new Civic Campus. The development is radically inclusive due to a genuine collaboration with disabled residents and addresses a range of local needs, including affordable housing and workspaces.

HOMEflex – SSEN Distribution
The Household Or Microbusiness Energy flexibility (HOMEflex) project set out to ensure the domestic flexibility market is inclusive, fair, and transparent, with clear lines of accountability. It sought to ensure flexibility service providers meet their commitments and to guarantee customers are protected, respected and rewarded. It also benefits the participants, who are now be able to demonstrate their credibility to customers.

Digitalisation Award

ARM-Hub – Armadillo Analytics
ARM-Hub will transform the district heating industry as a much-needed data integrator and aggregator. By providing a single, secure data platform to control connected devices like smart meters and eHIUs, ARM-Hub enables industry growth by removing data-related barriers and expensive integration costs. Improved data flow and connectivity between operators and assets powers more efficient heat networks, and advances heat decarbonisation.

Magic Ink – Kraken Technologies
Kraken is an all-in-one smart operating system revolutionising the energy supply chain from generation to supply. In March 2023, Kraken developed Magic Ink, a generative AI solution, to enhance interactions between energy utility customers and support teams amid a surge in customer support demand.

Power Saver App – equiwatt and Scottish Power
This collaboration between equiwatt and Scottish Power introduced a mainstream energy flexibility app achieving a 14X increase in flex capacity and 10X user growth on equiwatt's virtual power plant.
By making it easier for consumers to access flexibility, our project significantly contributes to the UK's energy transition and net-zero goals, fostering inclusivity and community building in the evolving energy landscape.

RavenResidential – EnergiRaven and SAV
Cambridge Investment Partnership, an equal partnership between Cambridge City Council and The Hill Group, collaborating with SAV, sought a platform that would effectively monitor and optimise energy consumption on their Ironworks, Mill Road project – the platform chosen was RavenResidential. The energy monitoring platform already has over 3000 metering points over 15 sites, being used by 7 Clients and a total of 78 users. Implementing RavenResidential has resulted in a significant saving for the heat network occupants, who can expect lower tariffs due to improved efficiency seen through a reduction in return temperature, heat loss, and pumping costs.

The Billing Solution – Camden Council
Camden Council created and implemented a bespoke in-house solution for heat charges billing. This has greatly increased the efficiency and functionality of the billing process and keeps heat charges lower for residents. The solution interacts with other IT systems at Camden Council resulting in technological, financial, staff, environmental and social benefits for both staff and residents.

University of Birmingham: Creating the World’s Smartest University Campus – Siemens
This initiative is combining digital sensor and analytics technologies, artificial intelligence, decentralised energy generation and storage, renewable energy and concepts that help change users’ behaviour to transform the University’s campus. The use of sensors, the Internet of things (IoT), and a digital twin of the campus’s energy system makes it possible to increase transparency on building utilisation, heating, and power consumption. From this data, a reliable road map for achieving both net zero and energy cost optimisation has been developed.

Supply Chain and Skills Development Award

Heat Metering and Data Collection Equipment Training Program – Sycous
Sycous were selected by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to develop the next wave of heat network professionals from October 2023 to April 2024. Recognising the existing skills gap in the installation and maintenance of metering and data collection equipment for heat networks, Sycous’ training course has empowered individuals and M&E contractors to work to improve the overall efficiency of heat networks.

Heat Network Optimisation Guidance – FairHeat
The Heat Network Optimisation Guide, authored by FairHeat, revolutionises UK heat networks, offering practical, innovative solutions for efficiency and decarbonisation of existing systems. This pioneering industry resource, created in collaboration with Anthesis for DESNZ, addresses crucial industry challenges, making a significant impact towards the UK's net zero carbon goals.

Net Zero Apprenticeships – Vital Energi
The green energy sector is facing a significant skills gap which has created a genuine hurdle to the UK meeting its net zero targets. Vital Energi have created a Net Zero Apprenticeships programme, which is recruiting the future leaders of the industry and equipping them with the skills and knowledge necessary to deliver the UK to its net zero targets.

Transition to ECO4 – InstaGroup
Previously, vital ECO funds have remained unspent because of difficulties in the supply and delivery of measures. A robust supply chain is therefore crucial for the ‘whole house’ retrofit programme required by ECO4. InstaGroup is bringing together quality materials, trusted supply, training and onsite technical support to upskill and diversify the supply chain, to better tackle the challenge of fuel poverty.

Leadership in Diversity - Sponsored by Bring Energy

CubeLynx
An independent team supporting organisations and projects across the heat and power sectors to make critical decisions in changing markets. CubeLynx promotes diversity and employs financial modellers who are neurodiverse, particularly those who are autistic. The autistic community has a large untapped talent pool of financial modellers and CubeLynx commits to provide this community with careers and pathways to success.

District Heating Divas
The District Heating Divas connects women from across the UK and Europe’s heat network sector, with over 700 members across 5 UK regional groups and networks in Scandinavia and Brussels. Members come from the widest range of professions – from engineers and technology providers, to data, communications and legal professionals. The Divas believe that heat networks are part of the net zero solution and in developing a thriving, collaborative and approachable industry with attractive career options for all.

The Diverse Heat Network
The Diverse Heat Network (DHN) stands out as a dynamic and neutral facilitator of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion within the heat network sector. With 6 founding companies from across the industry, DHN has made significant strides in enhancing industry visibility, raising awareness across the entire supply chain. Its impactful activities are pivotal in shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Elevate Everywhere
Statistics show that UK’s engineering sector is considerably less diverse than the general population. Elevate Everywhere aims to lead the way in improving equality, diversity and inclusion in the decentralised energy industry by hiring diversely and launching an exciting new initiative to help disabled jobseekers into work.

Rising Star

Chester de Meester – Elevate Everywhere
Despite his relative inexperience, Chester has been relied upon heavily due to his dedication, can-do attitude, and ability to pick up new knowledge and skills quickly. He is learning to trust his instincts and apply his education to complex problems, making significant contributions to important projects such as large-scale decarbonisation projects at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospitals.

Cian Quinn – Vattenfall
Cian is an Engineering Manager at Vattenfall. With just over a year’s experience in the heat network sector, Cian has made a significant impact in how Vattenfall is delivering its commitment to net zero by 2040. With his professionalism, work ethic and generosity to always make time to support his colleagues, he has quickly become a trusted role model.

Fanny Garrigou-Grandchamp – Bring Energy
Fanny’s industrious approach to heat network decarbonisation and championing diversity and inclusion across the sector as a Diverse Heat Network Champion has already seen her be instrumental in developing a legacy of change within the energy sector. With her excellent communication skills, determination and dedication to positive change, Fanny is a shining example of talent within the sector.

Francesca James - FairHeat
Francesca James is a Cambridge University graduate and Consulting Engineer at FairHeat. Recognised for her technical excellence, leadership, and industry contributions, Francesca won the CIBSE ASHRAE Graduate Engineer of the Year Award in 2023. Francesca passionately advocates for gender equality in engineering and inspires young women into the industry as a STEM Ambassador.

Jenny Russon – MCS Foundation
Jenny joined The MCS Foundation in December 2022 as a Research Assistant for the external affairs team, responsible for contributing to the evidence-based research which supports the campaigns and advocacy for both the MCS Foundation and the MCS scheme. She holds a BA in French from the University of Leeds, and an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia.

Muneeb Maaz – Elevate Everywhere
Muneeb seamlessly blends a desire to learn and data analysis prowess with a dedication to sustainability. His commitment to growing as an Energy Analyst is as steadfast as his desire to nurture future engineers, often giving talks at schools and running Elevate Everywhere’s first work experience programme in 2023.

Patrick de Mars – UKPN
Patrick has led some of the energy industry’s first ever applications of machine learning to get more green energy into people’s homes. His work leading on forecasting of solar and wind sites allowed them to export more renewable energy whilst retaining safe and reliable network operation. This innovation is now standard practice in the UKPN business.

Shaniyaa Holness-Mckenzie – Modo Energy
Since joining Modo Energy in November 2022, Shaniyaa has spearheaded efforts to process, analyse and simplify the many data sets that exist for battery storage. This includes analysis of millions of rows of data to get to the bottom of what exactly the ‘skip rate’ of batteries are, communicating this via written research and video.

Tharina Conradie – Ener-Vate
Enthusiasm and passion for the industry bottled in a high-energy South African package. You would never think Tharina has only been in the industry for 4 years, but during this short period she has moved so many people and ignited so many internal flames and passion for heat networks that will keep burning for years to come.