UK Readies Europe’s Largest Energy Storage Facility
A 6MW/ 10MWh energy storage plant will be sited at the Leighton Buzzard substation in the English town of Bedfordshire, in order to evaluate how energy storage can help in achieving the UK’s Carbon Plan. The Carbon Plan represents the government’s mission to reduce emissions. The plant will be constructed as part of the Smart Network Storage project which received £13.2 million of funding from the government agency Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. Just last year, Imperial College London published findings that indicate potential total system savings of £10 billion yearly if energy storage technologies are implemented to avoid distribution network reinforcements that would be required by the electrification of heat and transport sectors.
Clemens Triebel, founder of Younicos, which is one of 4 companies collaborating on the project, enthused, “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”.
If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.