BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
DE-RISKING ELECTRIFICATION: HOW A OVERCOME GRID CONSTRAINTS
In an increasingly electrified world, power resilience is critical. Decarbonisation strategies can bring financial benefits, but for manufacturers secure power is an absolute priority. Alexandra Kuncewicz, business development manager at Powerstar, highlights technologies to improve sustainability
and energy security, and considers how a partnership approach can help UK manufacturers meet these challenges – for greater efficiencies and for power resilience
E
nergy security is a major issue for the UK’s power
infrastructure, especially given the ambitious targets set out in the UK’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. While many businesses think they may miss their own interim decarbonisation targets, most companies still prioritise sustainability: to ensure regulatory and legal compliance; to adhere to stakeholder and customer requirements; and as an integral part of being a responsible business.
One of the main benefits of battery storage is its capability to enable businesses to maintain operations without overloading their current grid connection
overloading their current grid connection. Where a business invests in on-site renewables, a
BESS can store excess energy for use when needed or when most cost-effective, switching between grid supply and on-site energy, maximising the return on investment in renewables. Equally, where the shift is made to an EV fleet, and for employee and client vehicle charging, a BESS can circumvent the need for heavy demand on grid supply, operating as a buffer as chargers are connected directly to the battery. Since the BESS stores electricity as DC rather than AC it can facilitate more rapid charging. A Battery Energy Storage System
(BESS) that incorporates an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is also an established way to help ensure power resilience if there is disruption to the main grid supply by providing seamless backup power. Modern BESS with UPS offer higher efficiency than traditional UPS, with efficiencies of up to 95%, reducing emissions and operational costs. As a flexible asset, a BESS
ELECTRIFICATION AS THE WAY FORWARD Electrification across all sectors, including energy- intensive manufacturing, is highlighted by the latest Carbon Budget as the means to achieving Net Zero by 2050: ‘Electrification and low-carbon electricity supply make up the largest share of emissions reductions in our pathway, 60% by 2040’. This is heavily reliant on green technologies:
EVs – including HGVs; transport, more generally; heat, and other industrial processes. But this electrification throws up significant challenges to businesses: grid capacity issues can hamper sustainability plans as a recent report demonstrates, where 44% of British and Irish companies stated that supplier or infrastructure limitations are a major decarbonisation hurdle.
GRID CAPACITY AS IT IMPACTS ON BUSINESS Replacing equipment and transport with electric alternatives and investing in on-site renewables are clear ways to decarbonise your business – but they can lead to problems if they take you over your Agreed Supply Capacity, meaning that you may need to seek an additional grid connection. The National System Energy Operator (NESO) has admitted that the growth in applications outstrips the feasibility of delivering connections reforms
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with UPS can help improve sustainability and efficiency, reducing emissions and offering a blend of cost savings, while helping to ensure power resilience.
Modern low-loss transformers: Given that many manufacturers already rely on transformers, this can be an ideal place
while processing existing applications. As of January this year, there were 1,700
applications for 2023/4 and ‘more projects already in the queue that are required for the energy system in 2030 or even 2050’. Under Ofgem’s connections reforms policy, energy network operators have begun to gather evidence from customers. In the meantime, though, UK manufacturers continue to face multiple issues as they endeavour to decarbonise and to form and implement a Net Zero strategy. This is leading many to look to an alternative approach – making the most of existing energy management assets, and extending or improving these assets to enhance carbon emission reduction while achieving a return on their investment: circumventing grid constraint issues and de-risking sustainability.
FLEXIBLE ENERGY ASSETS FOR IMPROVED SUSTAINABILITY Battery Storage: Given the drive to electrifying power and the issues this raises relating to grid capacity – particularly for energy-intensive manufacturers – one of the main benefits of battery storage is its capability to enable businesses to maintain operations without
ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Autumn 2025
to improve sustainability while enhancing electrification strategies, with minimal risk. For businesses with on-site renewables, a
transformer is vital to integrate this sustainable energy. As the UK’s transformers become older - with the average age of the country’s 230,000-strong fleet at over 60 years as against an anticipated design-lifespan of 20 years - this is a further reason to look at modern transformer technology as a first asset to improve sustainability and efficiency. If your transformer becomes a point of failure, this means costly downtime and the potential for wastage or scrappage of product. As the global demand for transformers increases, this can also lead to lengthy waits for a replacement – meaning additional production stoppages. Replacing outdated transformers with modern alternatives can reduce operating and maintenance costs, while lowering emissions – with up to 70% lower core losses than conventional alternatives.
Voltage Optimisation: Voltage Optimisation (VO) is designed to ensure that energy supplied from the grid matches on-site equipment demands. While most UK electrical equipment operates at 220V,
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