Last week, business
and energy secretary Greg Clark revealed the government’s plans to make a £246m
investment in battery technology over the next four years. Here, Nick
Boughton, sales manager at industrial systems integrator, Boulting Technology
responds to the announcement.
The plans, which have been released by the government and
Ofgem, will look to give households and businesses more control over their use
of electricity and break down barriers preventing new technologies from entering
the energy market.
Here at Boulting Group, we welcome the decision to transform
the way homes and businesses store and use energy.
The National Grid delivers electricity to millions of
people, businesses and communities across the country, however its role is changing. Although the nation has traditionally
relied on large fossil fuel and nuclear power stations to supply electricity,
many of these larger power stations are now being closed down. As a result, the
supply mix has to evolve.
At present, over a quarter of the UK’s electricity is being
generated by renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. However, one of
the concerns with this method is that production is often at its highest when
demand is lowest. This makes storage for energy generated this way a key
priority to eliminate waste and harness its true production potential.
Using batteries to store renewable energy is by no means a
new concept. However, batteries for this purpose are often big, expensive and
have a limited lifespan. In these newly proposed plans, the government has
committed to removing barriers to the introduction of new technology into the
power network.
Continued advancements in battery power, including decreased
costs, are vital for this form of energy storage being rolled out on a mass
scale.
Over the coming months, we will be working alongside our
clients and partners to explore the potential of battery technology in the
industrial sector. Looking only a few years ahead, we envisage efficient
battery storage being commonplace across industrial sites, office blocks and
homes.
We look forward to seeing how the government and Ofgem’s
plans unfold.
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