In these pages we, try to keep up to date with changes in the energy markets and their potential impact on prices and customers’ total energy spend. One area that has been growing is energy battery storage, and we would like to do a quick examination of that market, its potential impact on prices, and its longer-term viability. (more…)
energy storage
UK Battery Industrialisation Centre Gets Boost
A national centre for excellence in developing electric vehicle (EV) batteries has received an additional £24 million in funding on top of its initial £80 million endowment. The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, planned to be in Coventry, will develop and test batteries, train a new workforce in battery manufacturing, and become the UK’s first large-scale battery factory (or Gigafactory). (more…)
Energy Storage Technologies Continue to Change Electricity Industry Landscape
During the second quarter, Frost and Sullivan (global market research and analysis company) released its Global Energy Storage Market Outlook 2018. The report finds that total installed energy storage capacity will grow 15.9% between 2017 and 2018 with the top six countries (China, USA, South Africa, Chile, France, and Israel) completing 1369 MWS of grid-scale energy storage system (ESS) projects during 2018. (more…)
Power-to-gas Energy Storage Hailed as Feasible at Scale
A government-backed study has supported the use of hydrogen as large-scale energy storage for power generated by renewables. Northern Gas Network (NGN) and ITM Power, who led the project, have hailed the results of the power-to-gas feasibility study as a “compelling step forward for the future of UK energy storage”. (more…)
Vattenfall to Start Construction of New Battery Project
Vattenfall will start construction of the UK’s largest battery storage scheme this summer, to be located at the Pen y Cymoedd wind farm in Wales. This location makes use of the existing grid connections and means the batteries can be powered by the wind farm or directly from the grid. The 22MW battery system, known as Battery@PyC, will comprise of six shipping containers filled with BMW lithium-ion batteries. (more…)
Energy Storage Success in National Grid Auction
Success for battery storage was seen in the recent National Grid auction for capacity that will ensure the system frequency is maintained at 50HZ at times when it is under stress. The “Enhanced Frequency Response” (EFR) tender was conducted for the provision of 200MW of capacity that can provide frequency regulation services within 0.4 to 1 second for a minimum duration of 15 minutes. Battery storage is well suited to providing capacity in this time frame and therefore was successful in winning most of the capacity at auction. Of the 64 sites now taking part in the scheme, 61 will be battery assets, two are demand reduction projects and one is thermal generation.
While the tender was for just 200 MW of capacity, a total of 1.4GW of storage projects was put forward, which is seen as a positive signal for the development of energy storage and its on-going potential. The National Grid has said that having this reserve in place will reduce its costs by £200m.
Cordi O’Hara, Director of UK System Operator, National Grid said: ‘These awards show that we can work with industry to bring forward new technology and I believe storage has much to contribute to the flexible energy system of tomorrow. This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the industry.’
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