Thursday 6 April 2017

E.ON begins 10MW battery installation at CHP plant

E.ON has begun installing a 10MW battery at its biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

The 30MW Blackburn Meadows CHP plant near Sheffield is expected to produce enough power for around 40,000 homes by converting recycled waste wood into electricity.

The 10MW lithium-ion battery being put into place there is the size of four shipping containers and will be able to hold the same amount of energy as 500,000 mobile phone batteries.

The project is one of eight contracts awarded by National Grid, which will use the batteries to help balance supply and demand, make more efficient use of renewables and provide extra power at times of peak demand as part of the Capacity Market.

It is estimated these projects will save National Grid and UK consumers about £200 million a year on transmission costs.

David Topping, Director of Business Heat and Power Solutions at E.ON, said: "Batteries at this scale allow us to make best of all renewable energy sources by harnessing the energy and having it ready for use whenever it’s needed – increasing the share of renewable energy in the grid while at the same time providing a secure supply for our customers."

The system is expected to be fully operational by late 2017.

Renewable energy developers have started competing for £290 million worth of contracts, including those for biomass CHP.