Innovation in Battery Energy Storage

The 22nd of September marks 2023’s World Energy Storage Day, exploring the vital role that energy storage, as well as electric vehicles and green hydrogen, will play in the energy transition. Here, Powerstar explains why energy storage plays such a vital role in changing energy infrastructure, as well as exploring some of the innovations that are driving improvements in how individual organisations and national grids alike are using energy and balancing available supply with demand. 

What Energy Storage is Crucial for National Grid

Energy storage is one of the most important technologies when it comes to successfully transitioning from a fossil fuel-based generation mix to one that operates primarily or entirely on renewable energy. Renewable generation such as solar and wind is not just much less carbon intensive that fossil fuel generation, but it often also compares favourably in terms of the cost to produce a unit of electricity.  

However, renewable generation is inherently inflexible: we can’t turn the sun and wind up and down like we can with a gas turbine. This can make it difficult to balance available supply with demand, particularly during peak periods that typically fall in the early evening during the winter. Battery storage plays a key role in solving this, alongside other techniques such as demand side response. Battery storage allows excess electricity generated during ideal conditions to be stored easily, then tapped into during periods where generation is lower.  

Why Battery Storage is Becoming Crucial for Businesses 

Increasingly, individual organisations and sites are using Behind-the-Meter (BtM) battery energy storage systems to allow them to manage their energy usage more intelligently, as well as to solve complex infrastructure issues. How they are used can vary from site to site, but increasingly a BESS forms the cornerstone of an ambitious, comprehensive net zero strategy for many businesses. 

The key benefit of BtM energy storage is flexibility: how it is used as the benefits it offers can be changed to meet the needs of a site at any given time. This can include storing energy from on-site generation, using stored energy to avoid periods of peak demand, or to buffer energy-intensive equipment, such as rapid EV charging, to prevent exceeding total available supply from grid. BESS can also provide site-wide power resilience, typically with lower losses, and subsequently lower costs and carbon emissions, that an equivalent UPS system. 

Leading Innovations in Battery Energy Storage 

SMART MICROGRIDS 

Combined with intelligent control software and sufficient on-site generation, a battery storage system has the potential to transform a site into a smart microgrid. This is a self-contained, localised energy system that, while connected to the grid, can operate independently when required. This can help to insulate a site from volatile wholesale energy costs, as well as keeping it operational if grid supply is disrupted. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

As the way that sites use energy becomes more complex, the decisions surrounding when and how to charge and discharge a battery become equally complex, with the most efficient way of operating typically requiring minute-by-minute decisions that would be impractical for a human operator. Artificial intelligence control systems are increasingly used to automate this decision-making process, ensuring that energy on a site is being procured, stored and used as cost and carbon-efficiently as possible. 

DIGITAL TWINS 

Integrating a battery energy storage system into an existing site is a challenging process, that requires careful planning and implementation to ensure that the system operates as intended and doesn’t cause issues with infrastructure already on site. Using a digital twin to create a virtual copy of not just the proposed battery or microgrid system, but an entire site’s power infrastructure, means that a proposed solution can be tested comprehensively across a broad range of different conditions. This can be achieved before any works on site begin, ensuring that the eventual installation and commissioning process delivers a system that works exactly as intended. 

GREEN HYDROGEN 

Replacing natural gas with electrification is one way of reducing carbon emissions dramatically, but it can also be prohibitively expensive for some sectors, such as manufacturing. Green hydrogen is increasingly becoming an alternative, with the only waste product of burning hydrogen in place of natural gas being water. With behind the meter electrolysers becoming more viable for individual sites, this technology can also be used as an effective energy storage system by using excess electricity to generate green hydrogen.  

Powerstar are a leading provider of innovative battery energy storage systems, tailoring our projects to the exact specifications of each individual customer. We combine unrivalled experience with leading research and development, including in the use of artificial intelligence and complex digital modelling, to ensure that each of our battery systems delivers as promised.