Tim Rose, Programme Manager - Energy Superhub Oxford, Pivot Power
29th June 2021
The PFER Demonstrator project, Energy Superhub Oxford, has hit a major milestone this month as Pivot Power and partners activated the UK’s first grid-scale battery storage system directly connected to the transmission-network.
The 50MW lithium-ion battery will provide essential flexibility to cost-effectively integrate more renewables, increase system resilience and future-proof the UK’s electricity network. It is the first part of what will be the world's largest hybrid battery, combining lithium-ion and vanadium redox flow systems, which is due to be fully operational later this year.
Pivot Power have led the development of the battery, which will share its grid connection with an 8km private wire network, delivering power to electric vehicle charging locations across the city. The first of these will be the UK’s largest public charging hub at Redbridge Park & Ride, which will feature 38 fast to ultra-rapid chargers when it opens in early 2022.
Habitat Energy will optimise the battery to deliver revenues using their AI-enabled PowerIQ platform. This approach combines the best opportunities available in the day ahead market, intraday and balancing mechanism and provides ancillary services such as Dynamic Containment.
The second element of the project, the vanadium redox flow battery, supplied by UK energy storage experts Invinity Energy Systems, will come online later this year. Once operational, the University of Oxford will evaluate the performance of the hybrid battery against a digital twin. This will provide a validated performance model of large-scale storage systems which can be used to more accurately predict project returns and accelerate energy storage investment globally.
Full story on ESO website: https://energysuperhuboxford.org/50mw-lithium-ion-battery-goes-live/