Lack of grid-level battery storage holding back green investment

A leading UK businessman has called for grid-level battery storage to become a UK investment priority in an article for the environmental best-practice website, Betterworld.Solutions.

Chris Rea CBE, the Managing Director of the Rotherham headquartered global engineering and reliability company, AESSEAL says that contrary to Government policy the distribution of green energy UK-wide continues to hit road-blocks.

Based on expert analysis, electricity demand could be reduced by an estimated 17.5% by investing £21 billion in a 60GW battery array, which can provide 10GWh of energy for a six hour period, saving almost 15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. To give one comparison, Hinkley C will generate 7% of the UK’s electricity at a cost of £26 billion.

However, while there has been a commitment to nuclear, it remains unclear who needs to make the investment in battery storage, which is necessary to unleash the full power of the often-promised ‘green revolution’.

Chris Rea says: “Wind and solar are unpredictable generation and charging electric vehicles cannot come directly from the grid at peak demand times, so battery arrays are essential for a green electricity future.”
Meanwhile, his own company, AESSEAL, for example, is not allowed to export excess solar energy to the Grid in Derby. Other Betterworld members report that in large parts of the UK there is a restriction on connecting green energy to the Grid, in many cases the restrictions apply until 2030.

While AESSEAL says that they will be pushing ahead with green investments, including solar energy, despite the obstacles, he is concerned that other businesses wishing to invest in solar energy will be deterred.

Chris Rea says: “Small businesses can and would deploy their capital more readily if they could connect a battery array to the grid and benefit financially from the ability to buy and store energy at a sufficiently less cost than the price it could be sold for at peak times.

“Improving the business case for battery arrays requires connection to the grid and a fairer price for energy supplied.”

Link to read the full document on Battery Arrays to reduce peak electricity demand by 17.5% -
https://static.aesseal.com/whitepaper/Betterworld-Battery-Arrays-