S&C Electric, Samsung SDI, UK Power Networks and Younicos are collaborating on Europe’s largest energy storage project.
The 6MW/10MWh Smarter Network Storage project will be installed at Leighton Buzzard primary substation in the UK to assess the role of energy storage in delivering the UK’s Carbon Plan.
“We’re eager to show how industrially available batteries can be integrated into existing grids economically today and help effectively balance intermittent renewable generation, allowing us to switch off CO2-intensive thermal plants when they aren’t needed,” said Clemens Triebel, Younicos founder.
A study published by Imperial College, London last year estimated in a 2050 high renewables scenario that application of energy storage technologies could potentially generate total system savings of £10 billion annually in the UK by avoiding distribution network reinforcements that would be required by the electrification of heat and transport sectors.
Project partner S&C electric has also today published a white paper (PDF) on the impact of energy storage on smart microgrids that includes a few real-world applications of energy storage within a microgrid.
Andrew Jones, Managing Director, S&C Electric Europe, said the Leighton Buzzard practical demonstration “promises to show the strengths and limitations of storage and unlock its potential as a key technology for the transition to low carbon energy.”
The Smarter Network Storage project was awarded funding of £13.2 million by Ofgem, under the Low Carbon Network Fund (LCNF) scheme
Younicos, in conjunction with various partners, provides turn-key battery parks with 20-year performance guarantees that it says provide crucial system services faster, more accurately and economically than conventional generators.
In April, Younicos announced it would be constructing an energy storage system capable of storing 5 MWh for Schwerin’s green power utility WEMAG. That facility will be commissioned in mid-2014 and will use lithium-ion cells manufactured by Samsung SDI.
