BATTERY-POWERED HOTEL INNOVATION SPECIAL
Hi Ross. What prompted Whitbread to look at battery storage? We have a lot of hotels around the country, all running on electricity, making energy one of the business’s biggest costs. So taking action that could reduce our energy costs makes good business sense. This trial is also going to help our commitment to cut carbon emissions in half by 2025, and as much as 88% by 2050.
Why did you choose Scotland for the trial? Scotland was selected because of its abundance of low carbon electricity. Edinburgh also met the right conditions regarding health and safety and type of energy profile; the hotel uses lots of energy at the most expensive times of day – peak times.
What size is the battery? We installed a 100kW lithium ion battery which is 3m3
and weighs approximately five tonnes.
Was it an easy project to undertake?
I think when you are undertaking a ground-breaking project like this, where the market is young and there aren’t that many suppliers with a long track record, there are always going to be challenges. For example, we had unexpected issues with shipping the battery because of its size. But with good planning and working with E.On, who have supported us on other energy projects and understand our business, we were able to install the battery with minimal disruption at the hotel. We worked closely with the local team and essentially had the site ready to plug the battery in when it arrived. Incidentally, we are now looking at
vending machine-sized batteries for our London hotels, where space is an issue.
How exactly does the battery enable you to make savings? It’s really quite simple. Our hotels typically need energy at times when it’s at its most expensive – typically in
24 CABLEtalk FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020
the evenings when guests come back to relax in their rooms with their lights, heating, showers, kettles and televisions on. By having the battery, we have the ability to store electricity on site. We can charge the battery when energy is at its cheapest, and then use that cheap energy
whenever it’s needed. We can essentially use off-peak energy at peak times. When we get smart with controls, we
can get into some quite clever processes that will allow us to be really responsive and make sure we get the very cheapest energy prices, or perhaps even get paid to charge our batteries or sell energy
Guests choose the hotel so they can see the battery
Volty Towers
Edinburgh is home to the UK’s first battery- powered hotel, after the Premier Inn at the Gyle began trialling battery storage. Ross Greenhalgh, Energy Manager at owners Whitbread, revealed more about the project
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