Markets

Battery Storage

Battery storage is the process that is used to regulate the supply of electricity onto the grid from intermittent sources of power generation like renewable energies. The electrical energy is stored during peak times when electricity is inexpensive and returned to the grid when demand is high and electricity is expensive.

Renewable energy projects do not supply a consistent supply of electricity onto the grid because of the variation in weather conditions affecting wind speeds and daylight. Therefore battery storage sites are increasing used a large uninterruptable power supply (UPS) to introduce power onto the grid in line with demand.

Therefore the energy storage sector is a vital part of the energy mix as it reduces the requirement for power generation through the regulation of supply in addition create a more reliable and robust energy network.

A battery storage project in the U.K has typically a 30MW - 50MW installed capacity and is made up of containerised industrial scale Lithium-Ion batteries. The Li-Ion batteries create direct current (DC) which is converted via invertors into alternating current (AC) and connected to a transformer and switchgear in a substation within the project compound. This substation has an 33kV export cable which is buried and runs through to a point of connection onto the distribution network operator (DNO) network.

The energy storage sector is extremely buoyant in the U.K with a project pipeline of over 13.5 gigawatts of capacity in planning or under construction. There are currently 1.3 gigawatts of projects that have planning approval and are ready to build any many indictors that these projects are close to starting construction.

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