The UK’s University of Sheffield will connect a Toshiba 2MW lithium titanate battery at an energy storage research test facility located at a primary substation owned by Western Power Distribution.
The battery will form a part of the 11kV Grid Connected Energy Storage Demonstrator, which is part of Western Power Distribution’s network. Toshiba will supply the lithium titanate battery to be connected to Willenhall substation near Wolverhampton later this year.
The research team will test the challenges of storing excess electricity from renewable energy as well as the viability of used electric vehicle battery packs for domestic or industrial storage.
“Large scale batteries could reduce the need to keep energy generators on standby to respond to peaks in demand, but it’s as yet unclear how this might be best managed commercially,” said professor Dave Stone from the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Engineering.
The researchers stated that they selected a lithium titanate battery because it shall charge faster, last longer and be safer regarding fire risks in comparison to lithium ion-based batteries. Dani Strickland, one of the partners from Aston University, said: “The background research for this facility has been undertaken over a number of years as an industry and academia partnership and it will be exciting to see what this hardware can achieve at a reasonable size level.”
“We’ll be able to openly assess the impacts of the technology on our energy infrastructure, which should ensure faster adoption by the sector, to help improve how the grid functions and its overall stability,” added Stone.