Tuesday 21 August 2018

Anglian Water splashes out on energy storage

Anglian Water has bought an energy storage device to help it make the most of onsite solar technologies.

The largest water company in England and Wales by geographic area will use a 60kW vanadium redox flow  redT machine to store power from a 450kWp solar system at one of its water treatment facilities.

The firm says it will slash the site’s reliance on the grid and help reduce the firm's £77 million energy bill, which is one of the company’s largest operational costs.

The device, which can provide at least five hours of continuous energy, will also enable real-time balancing services, allowing Anglian Water to sell power back to the grid and halve yearly site electricity costs by 2040.

Open Energi will be enlisted to equip artificial intelligence technology and optimise energy consumption at the facility.

Aiming to become carbon neutral by 2050, the company plans to build more than 30MW of solar under a 25-year power purchase agreement - this programme of work is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and increase renewable generation by approximately a quarter, delivering annual savings in excess of £1 million.

Jason Tucker, Director of Alliances and Integrated Supply Chain at Anglian Water, said: "The approach will enable us to develop future-proof solutions for managing energy more flexibly and efficiently, whilst increasing resilience.

"Using redT’s flexible energy storage infrastructure alongside Open Energi’s smart software will allow us to unlock more solar power, as well as allowing us to participate in grid services to further reduce our energy bills."