Welsh Government Smart Living Initiative

A review of progress and learning so far.

Together with AD Research & Analysis, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) has conducted three studies reporting on the progress made by the Welsh Government Smart Living Initiative between 2018 and 2021.

In the transition towards a low carbon economy, new energy technologies are emerging at a rapid pace. There are promising opportunities for these transitions to benefit communities across Wales. In response to this, in 2015 the Welsh Government set up the Smart Living Initiative. The initiative was created to support the various demonstrators taking place to create ‘place-based and needs-led’ smart changes in Wales.

Back in 2015, we ran several workshops for the Welsh Government to help them articulate the concept of smart living. As of March 2018, 12 projects had started that explore how smart technology can be used in the service of consumers in an innovative way.

Welsh Government Smart Living Initiative report 2018

We conducted the first Smart Living Initiative report in 2018. It reviewed eight ‘demonstrator’ projects set up to explore the concept of Smart Living in 2016.

Smart Living demonstrator projects

The eight projects that we reviewed in detail were:

• Smart Systems and Heat Programme in Bridgend – a project run by Bridgend County Borough Council exploring the options for district heating schemes in the county, including a pioneering geothermal scheme using groundwater in former mine shafts in Caerau.
• Angle DC on the Isle of Anglesey – a project run by Scottish Power energy networks to establish a medium voltage direct current link between Anglesey and the mainland.
• Zero Carbon Area in Milford Waterfront – Milford Haven Port Authority are exploring a number of options for connecting renewable technologies with smart systems for the Waterfront complex.
• Catalysing Local Energy in Blaenau Gwent – Blaenau Gwent Borough Council are exploring options to allow business, industry and domestic consumers greater control over their energy use and supply to reduce carbon emissions in the county overall.
• Smart Low Carbon Development in Neath Port Talbot – Neath Port Talbot council aim to create an inclusive city-wide framework to engage citizens in smart energy projects.
• Hydrogen Valley in in Rhondda – Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council are looking at options for expanding the use of hydrogen fuel cells in the valleys.
• Virtual Private Wire Connection in Flintshire – Flintshire County Council are exploring ways of modelling and allocating costs for local movement of locally generated electricity for their own use within public sector buildings.
• Wellbeing in Blaenavon – Torfaen Public Services Board are researching how smart technology can work towards achieving the goals of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015.

We compared and contrasted these different projects against a number of different dimensions as well as examining the above projects in detail, to draw out lessons and recommendations. 

The Smart Living Initiative report 2019

The second report in 2019 showed how the smart living concept had evolved in eleven demonstrations since the programme’s inception.  This second report incorporated both energy-innovation-led projects and those which were more driven by wellbeing agendas for local communities while also featuring ‘smart’ elements.

The third report

Post-Covid, a third report explored 26 diverse projects around Wales between 2019 and 2021. It found that the net zero agenda had transformed the Smart Living policy context with rapid decarbonisation driving Smart Living.

The Initiative achieved step changes since the review in 2018/19, including:

• number and diversity of projects.
• maturity of the projects.
• a marked increase in the amount of funding administered by the programme (£50k to £750k).

This third report was not published by the Welsh Government, therefore a download link is not available.