FEATURE
SUPERCHARGING SUSTAINABILITY
As energy optimisation and emission reduction becomes increasingly important, battery storage technology is rapidly gaining ground. Paul Sheffield, Chief Operating Officer at Haven Power, explores its increasing popularity.
In business, it’s never enough to keep the lights on. It’s about keeping the lights on in the most cost-effective and sustainable way, while considering your carbon footprint and optimising energy usage.
According to UK greenhouse gas emissions figures, business is responsible for 17% of harmful output. Since reducing emissions and optimising energy use are such high priorities with regulators and government, battery storage technology is rapidly gaining ground. Planning applications for battery storage capacity in the UK rose from just 2MW in 2012 to a total of 6,874MW in 2018 according to renewableUK. According to recent research conducted by Haven Power, 36% of UK businesses have considered installing a battery storage facility onsite.
It sounds impressive, but is it relevant to most businesses? Certainly. This technology will reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency, reduce reliance on the grid and make an organisation more resilient in the face of fluctuating energy prices.
Technology is advancing fast For a start, battery costs have dropped significantly under the stimulus of the electric vehicle industry. In fact, according to the Guardian, prices have fallen by more than
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€1,000 per kilowatt of energy capacity from 2010, to about €150-200 per kWh today. In addition, charging speed and energy capacity have vastly improved.
Battery technology also maximises the efficiency of sustainable, but intermittent sources such as wind and solar power. Businesses can use it with renewable generation, storing low-carbon electricity as it’s produced for later use. It is important that the benefits in terms of energy resilience, cost and sustainability should be identified before embarking on any strategy.
Maximising cost-savings Even for those businesses that don’t generate their own energy, battery storage can still help to reduce day-to-day costs. That’s because the flexibility of batteries iron out the peaks and troughs of grid electricity, leading to large cost-savings by avoiding, for example, the high price of electricity between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays.
Demand Side Response (DSR) There is another big advantage in implementing battery technology – it enables an organisation to reap the rewards of Demand Side Response, by which the government rewards businesses financially for changing the way they use power at certain times. The rewards
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