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Five Sectors Embracing the Need for Battery UPS

The ability of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to provide sitewide Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) as well as offering a range of other energy flexibility benefits is rapidly establishing it as a viable competitor in the UPS market.

Lithium-ion technology offers a different proposition to established, typically lead acid UPS batteries, with a growing number of sectors turning to the technology to help solve increasingly complex energy management challenges. Here are five sectors that are seeing significant uptake in BESS for providing emergency power.

Healthcare

Healthcare providers have long understood the need for reliable emergency power, ensuring critical equipment including operating theatres and ICU wards continue to function in the event of a power outage. However, the NHS in particular is increasingly exposed to the so-called energy trilemma that requires reliable power to be balanced with cost-effectiveness and the need to de-carbonise. BESS has the potential to support each of these three different goals simultaneously, providing reliable, site-wide emergency power while reducing energy bills through much lower losses and improving energy efficiency and the performance of any on-site renewable generation.

Manufacturing

Manufacturers are facing growing pressure as energy costs continue to increase, while many are also bound by a Climate Change Agreement that requires demonstrable improvements in sustainability to continue receiving an invaluable discount on their Climate Change Levy. Many manufacturers are also vulnerable to disruption, particularly those with high-volume productions or high costs for raw materials that could be wasted in the event of a power disruption. BESS helps to address each of these issues, keeping production lines running during power disruption, reducing costs and helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Retail

The risk of power disruption across the UK is steadily growing, ranging from minor spikes and dips in voltage to the potential for prolonged brownouts and blackouts. Retail businesses, often already operating on tight margins, can be particularly vulnerable to this, especially if outages disrupt their operating hours or their ability to efficiently deliver for customers. Delays and disruption can be one of the biggest negative impacts on customer experience, making steps taken to minimise the potential for disruption vital. The sustainability of a retail business is also increasingly being factored in when it comes to consumer’s buying decisions.

Public Sector

The public sector consumes £3.4 billion of energy every year, and will be expected to play a leading role in delivering the UK’s ambitious 2050 net zero target. Local authorities are increasingly looking to embrace renewable energy, with some 900,000 solar PV panels and 9,200 wind turbines now installed across the UK on public sector buildings and sites. BESS is often a logical next step following the installation of on-site generation, allowing power generated during ideal weather conditions to be stored and used when generation slumps (such as overnight in the case of solar PV). BESS also plays an increasingly important role in balancing on-site generation with the growing need for substantial amounts of energy for use with EV chargers.

Defence

As with healthcare, power resilience is critical to the defence sector functioning correctly. The energy sector across Europe has been highlighted in recent weeks as particularly vulnerable to cyberattack, making robust energy security for many defence sites a matter of national security. The Ministry of Defence has also committed to reaching net zero carbon by 2050, while many private suppliers are also looking to align with this requirement. The defence sector represents a broad range of differing sites and applications, increasing the need for bespoke, custom solutions to their energy management challenges.

Aside from these five, many other sectors are turning towards BESS as a way of reducing energy costs, improving sustainability and protecting their site from the risk of power disruption.