WEMS Wins BT Contract as Part of Demand Response Scheme

Content Coms client, WEMS has been awarded a significant contract by global telecoms business BT plc as part of a major programme to reduce electricity demand at peak times.

The contract win requires WEMS to provide the critical control, signalling and monitoring capability required by BT to meet its commitment to enhance Demand Response capability to the National Grid.  This latest announcement builds on a relationship spanning over 20 years, which has seen WEMS provide advanced energy management and monitoring technology at over 2,300 BT sites, delivering energy savings of £15.8million per year.

Demand Response is a service which BT will offer to the National Grid which reduces its electricity load during periods of peak demand. At certain times of the day, National Grid needs reserve power in the form of either generation or demand reduction to be able to deal with actual demand being greater than forecast demand. This back-up capacity allows National Grid to use power more efficiently and to reduce the carbon footprint of the UK’s power sector.

WEMS’ award-winning wireless technology will monitor the status of the engine sets and engine tanks at 415 BT sites.  A fully automated and gated switching process controlled by WEMS hardware ensures all of the necessary checks have been made – such as fuel tank monitoring and alarm status – prior to BT’s generators being switched ‘on’. The WEMS technology enables BT engineers to be confident that back-up capacity can be provided without causing any adverse impact to service or environmental conditions.

Paul Summers, CEO of WEMS, comments: “We have been working with BT for many years and we are delighted to be the technology solutions partner on this Demand Response project. Demand response schemes such as this enable businesses like BT to provide critical additional capacity to National Grid and I am very pleased we can play at part in this initiative. Our technology is already installed at over 2300 BT sites and this latest contract win demonstrates the key role we play in the management of energy usage across BT’s estate.”