Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to battery energy storage
James Whiteford (JW): My current role is in the Electricity System Operator where I am responsible for leading on the electricity supply modelling and assumptions within the annual Future Energy Scenarios. The Future Energy Scenarios represent a range of different, credible ways to decarbonise our energy system as we strive towards the 2050 target – as part of this we model all types of storage, how much is needed across the scenarios as well as when and where it will connect.
Nick Provost (NP): My primary role is to help the development team understand commercial viability of potential utility scale projects to ensure that we invest time and money in the most attractive propositions. I have 18 months direct experience with BESS but over 12 years in the energy and power industry as a whole.
David Landon (DL): I’m the CEO of MoltexFLEX, a UK-based developer of the FLEX advanced small modular nuclear reactor. I joined three years ago after I met our founder Dr Ian Scott, and was excited by the potential of the FLEX reactor to provide low-cost flexible energy. The FLEX reactor uses molten salt as a fuel and coolant, and also as an energy storage medium via our GridReserve technology. The system is designed to balance the output of intermittent renewables such as wind and solar power.
Michael Willemot (MW): I have worked on the market entry of flywheel energy storage technologies. These technologies are not restricted to the energy storage market. They are more dedicated to power applications where stability of electrical systems is critical. It spans from industrial UPS to EV charging power boosting. My role has been around business development, marketing, business finance and operations (certification, production).
Q: What is the top challenge facing your industry at present?
JW: The key challenge is understanding the ways in which the whole energy system needs to adapt as it transitions to a low carbon future; and the importance of flexibility to the ongoing balancing of the system.
NP: Connection dates for utility scale projects are too far into the future. We are receiving connection dates in the mid-2030s.
DL: While there is a growing consensus that nuclear must be part of the mix to achieve net zero, it suffers from high capital costs, cost overruns and programme overruns. So whether we are delivering conventional technologies or new technologies such as FLEX, we all need to work on reducing costs and delivering better on our time and cost promises. And we need to scale up nuclear to ‘production line’ delivery rates to make a meaningful contribution to the 1GW of clean energy that needs to be built per day to 2050.
MW: The top challenge is the criteria used to evaluate the profitability of energy storage projects. Too often, some cost centres that are ignored, such as operation costs to maintain an energy storage in its operating conditions (e.g., T°C). The approach of one solution fits all is wrong. Lots of technologies exist and a combination of these ones will help solve the energy transition challenges.
Q: How would you say your industry has evolved over the past two years?
JW: One of the key changes has been the role that we’ve seen flexibility will play. We have launched a world leading service this winter that is testing how demand flexibility can be used in our energy system. We are also seeing the need for a more holistic approach to electricity network planning – we have recently published a holistic network design that considers onshore and offshore networks in a holistic coordinated manner – this is needed due to the levels of offshore wind that are due to connect to the network in a move towards having a net zero power system by 2035. We’re also involved in driving a different way of delivering electricity network changes though our work on early competition and pathfinders which will ultimately save consumers millions and ensure our Net Zero ambitions are met.
NP: The market has moved beyond recognition. I have only been in the industry 18 months and when I started people were only looking at 1h schemes, now 2h is the standard and 4h systems are being investigated. Also when I started a 50MW was large and seen as risky but now it is the smallest size that an asset operator will consider.
DL: Hugely – a number of developers have made significant strides in bringing various small modular reactor designs to market. There’s also been far more recognition among politicians, academics, the media and the public that nuclear is necessary to reach net zero. Nuclear is garnering much more support, and this is very encouraging.
MW: There is more investment and it is more diversified. Now, flywheels and other technologies get high attention from investors. Customers are also looking at alternatives to only li-ion batteries for specific needs.
Q: What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on the development of future battery energy storage solutions?
JW: We expect battery storage to make up the largest share of storage power capacity in all of our future scenarios by 2050 to help with shifting demand within the day and managing electricity network constraints as battery costs fall.
NP: Supply chain is going to be the biggest issue in the near to medium term since lithium-ion technology is dominant and deployable. Longer term technologies that can more capably deliver long duration will start to become crucial so these projects, such as ones developed and constructed by Highview Power, will have a disproportionately large impact on the success of net-zero.
DL: The advent of high-temperature output reactors, including FLEX, open up a variety of opportunities for energy storage - from molten salt such as our GridReserve system, to more efficient thermo-chemical hydrogen production.
MW: Some changes of regulation in favour to energy storage; increase in investment.
Q: What will you be presenting at the Battery Energy Storage 2023 seminar and how will this benefit participants?
JW: I will be speaking about the role that flexibility will have in managing the electricity network in the future and the different assumptions we have made regarding battery storage across our scenarios.
NP: I will try to explain that the current developer approach to BESS projects is misaligned with what is actually needed (from a technical perspective).
DL: I’ll be outlining our FLEX reactor system and paying attention to the GridReserve system, an economic energy storage solution enabled by the high temperature output of the reactor. Participants will be able to see in detail how this gives nuclear the flexibility to complement renewables.
MW: I will present our flywheel technology, its technical principles & innovation, and its applications.
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at the forthcoming seminar?
JW: I am keen to hear more about current storage projects, the challenges surrounding battery energy storage and emerging technologies.
NP: All of the speakers will offer something new to the industry and I am looking forward to the event as a whole. I am however interested to see if Matt Aldridge, James Whiteford and Tony Roulstone in the first part have similar conclusions to myself.
DL: I’ll be interested to hear from James Whiteford on how National Grid is modelling its future scenarios as the problem is not just clean energy production and storage, but also our ability to deliver it where it is needed. I am also interested to hear the panel session on communicating storage technologies to the public; the delivery of good public information is vital to enabling the changes we need to deliver to alleviate climate change.
MW: Looking towards the future of energy markets
Beyond lithium ion; potential and viability
Evolution of the energy system; supporting battery storage capabilities
Q: Why is it important for engineers and industry to come together at this event and share best practice?
JW: To collectively solve the challenge of meeting net zero emissions we need to work closely together across industry to innovate together. Events like this are a great opportunity to achieve this.
NP: Too much effort at the moment is invested in what I call ‘soft-policy’ whereas ‘hard-engineering’ is what keeps the lights on. Politicians and decision makers won’t seriously engage with the challenges of making their well-meaning plans into reality so it is important that engineers do what they can to make them as workable as possible.
DL: The only way we’re going to beat climate change is to work collectively on solutions. There is no one technological solution to the problem within the required timescales, but there are great opportunities to work together and combine technologies.
MW: All stakeholders in the industry need to show that there is innovation, new collaboration approaches with more potential integrations of different technologies, and provide more choice to customers. These customers have very different needs and they want a mature industry that provides solutions to their needs, not just a unique answer that is supposed to fix all.
Battery Energy Storage 2023 will be taking place on 25 April at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.
Join this seminar to:
- Gain insight into government and industry support for battery energy storage and plans to develop the technology further to increase grid flexibility
- Discuss current and future demand for energy storage in the UK and battery energy storage’s role in future energy systems in order to plan your energy storage strategies
- Learn about the cutting-edge developments in stationary battery energy storage chemistries and materials to increase capacities and capabilities of your own systems
- Hear lessons learned from the latest battery energy storage projects and applications to take back to your organisation
- Be a part of a discussion around the future of energy storage covering supply chain, investment and capacity challenges
To book your place, please visit the event website.