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Neighbourhood Battery Storage

Energy Storage

Last Post by Transparent 12 months ago

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IanMK13

(@ianmk13)

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Topic starter 18/08/2024 5:17 pm

I saw a video this week of a visit to Givenergy's Head Office (They design and PV panel inverters and battery storage systems, for those who don't know). On display was a room full of commercial batteries and inverters which they use to power their business and which is supplied from PV panels on their roof for a large part of the year. It reminded me of stories of remote communities who have banded together to install their own fast broadband and I wonder about the feasibility of a similar scheme, perhaps at the 3-phase 400/230V level. It would facilitate the use of locally-generated PV energy without being short-changed by electricity suppliers, allow load shifting to make use of for lower-cost tariffs and could potentially assist in balancing the 3-phase load. I imagine some 'financial assistance' would be required to motivate take-up. Now I think of it, perhaps a 'distributed' system could be devised using existing home batteries in the neighbourhood.

Any thoughts?

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Derek M

(@derek-m)

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18/08/2024 6:10 pm

That is basically what I was suggesting, but provided and controlled by the DNO's, since the DNO's already have a complement of trained Engineers to operate and maintain such a system. The batteries could be charged either from local renewable sources or via the grid when demand is low. Over time this could help stabilise or maybe even lower electricity prices to all consumers in the area, along with helping to reduce the amount of system upgrades that could be required at both the local and national level, again helping to keep down costs.

I doubt that you could get many communities to fund, operate and maintain their own local system.

This post was modified 12 months ago by Mars

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Transparent

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18/08/2024 6:12 pm

Givenergy had a visit from Ed Miliband MP in March'24.
He was presumably doing his homework in advance of an election being called.

When looking at Community Energy initiatives, it matters a great deal as to whether they are able to generate all they need from their own assets, or whether they have to buy-in electricity from the grid.

They can't buy in from the Suppliers who have a 'domestic' licence from Ofgem, nor are the prices within any energy CAP.

They'll need to sign up as a commercial customer at rates above 50p/kWh ...
... and that's a problem which also adversely affects farmers.

However, if they install a variety of generation facilities around their area, 100% owned by the community as a CIC, then all they have to do is pay their DNO for transporting that energy to their battery storage site(s) and to Members' homes. This is not a new phenomenon, and therefore can't attract 'innovation grants'.

As most electricity will be wanted in winter months, it's likely to be more viable if they have wind-turbines and/or hydro-electric turbines in the mix.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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IanMK13

(@ianmk13)

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Topic starter 18/08/2024 7:32 pm

@transparent I was expecting you to point out that the total bill for 'financial assistance' could be considerable considering the quantity of neighbourhood transformers. Instead, you seem to be saying that the main barrier is regulatory. Sorry for my naivety, but doesn't that just mean that it needs the will to change the status quo? Paying 'commercial' energy rates rather than the 'wholesale plus a bit' I pay now on Octopus Agile wouldn't make sense. Again, thinking back to the not so distant past, every man and his dog was setting themselves up as a retail reseller. As I think has been mentioned before, flattening the demand would mitigate the need to spend so much on bolstering national transmission infrastructure.

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Transparent

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19/08/2024 11:27 am

To some extent, yes. Anyone supplying energy to others requires a licence to do so, even if they're just a local non-profit Community Interest Company.
The regulatory framework is the same whether you're a local CIC with 50 members or a giant like Centrica.
Each must have energy metering of sufficient accuracy, and issue correct bills for example.

Funding is available to help set up such ventures. There's an online seminar being run by Regen on 12th Sept to help those interested in setting up a Community Energy Group to generate from solar and wind-farms.

I would say the main barriers to setting up such a group venture are

too little technical understanding, possibly expecting just one person to 'do all the techie stuff'
too many 'meetings' to organise people and appoint them to roles
lack of commercial mind-set; the venture has to become self-supporting rather than expecting ongoing grants

We should note there is a large body of people who attend community energy conferences and Net Zero meetings across the UK, as if it's their full-time role. Too many of those expect the neighbourhood population to follow them towards a nebulous green-dawn, whilst being unable to tell an amp from a volt. That's just not going to happen.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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