A new report by energy service provider Joulen, formerly the Electric Storage Company, suggests 0.1% of UK businesses could provide the equivalent power of both Hinkley Point C and 130 grid-scale battery sites by installing battery energy storage.
The report, A Better Battery Strategy, outlines four steps the UK government could take to democratise the energy transition. It was modelled on 70 proprietary data sets and scenarios, taking into account optimisation opportunities, existing and possible market mechanisms, and public data sources.
The four steps are: to bring batteries into existing plans, such as the solar rooftop revolution and warm homes plan; to enable easier access for batteries to take part in all energy markets via virtual power plant (VPP) technology; to introduce tax incentives and better data use for increased returns in order to encourage battery investment and broader market participation; and to ensure optimisation is at the heart of deployment.
Democratisation can bring bills down for both consumers and businesses, according to Joulen, and its report argues that businesses with optimised solar and battery storage could save 60% on their electricity costs, with optimised battery storage accounting for 22% of this.
Residential batteries also offer savings of up to 65%, used in tandem with home solar installations. Further, if the home assets are optimised, the report says that participation in energy markets could open an additional income of £375 a year. If optimisation and participation were the standard, the payback period on the technology could be reduced by a third.
As the government pushes the UK towards net zero, and looks to make the UK a clean energy superpower, Joulen argues that battery strategy will accelerate the energy transition. However, given connection dates for many grid-scale battery projects are well beyond 2030, the nation is not likely to achieve the 50GW battery capacity that the report argues it should have by 2050.
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