Battery energy storage systems, especially when combined with on-site generation to form a smart microgrid, offer a highly flexible and powerful solution to even the most complex energy management challenges. Whether your organization is grappling with energy cost issues, power resilience concerns, or unique challenges, a smart battery system can provide an effective solution.
Despite these benefits, some potential clients hesitate to adopt battery or smart microgrid solutions, viewing them as relatively new and unproven technologies. Traditional UPS systems, though no longer the best option for modern energy transitions, are perceived as reliable and well-proven, leading many organizations to stick with familiar solutions.
Battery energy storage is far from new, representing the culmination of decades of development and testing. Lead-acid batteries, used in many UPS systems, were invented in 1859, and battery storage has managed energy, particularly in off-grid areas, since World War II.
Modern lithium-ion batteries have been around since 1976, with continuous advancements making them increasingly cost-effective and versatile. Today’s batteries can significantly support various energy management strategies, including cost-effective procurement, emissions reduction, and safeguarding against power disruptions.
Even organizations highly sensitive to power disruptions are starting to embrace battery energy storage systems (BESS). For the NHS, power resilience is crucial for ensuring uninterrupted power to life-critical systems like operating theatres and intensive care units. Traditionally, this has been achieved with lead-acid UPS systems and diesel generators.
While these traditional technologies are proven for power resilience, they can negatively impact energy costs and carbon emissions—areas the NHS is under pressure to improve. Forward-thinking trusts, many of which have already installed on-site generation such as rooftop solar, are now using battery energy storage to establish site-wide smart microgrids. These microgrids enable hospitals to continue operating normally even if the grid connection is lost. Besides providing crucial power resilience, this solution actively contributes to carbon and cost reduction targets, aligning with the NHS’s sustainability goals.
Click here to view our Rotherham Hospital case study.
As the world navigates the energy transition and moves to a more renewables-based energy mix, battery energy storage is already being relied upon to balance supply and demand and to ensure that the lights stay on in a growing number of countries, including the UK. Forward-thinking, ambitious companies, ranging from SMEs to major multi-nationals, are putting their faith in battery energy storage and smart microgrids to protect their power, reduce their reliance on the grid and resolve complex energy management challenges.
Find out more about the benefits your organisation could unlock with battery energy storage here.