StorTera's Story
StorTera is one of two teams that have been chosen to demonstrate their net zero solution for Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council after four teams completed Phase 1 feasibility studies. The aim is to develop an innovative net-zero energy solution for the commercial and industrial sector funded by the Welsh Government via the Whole System Business Research & Innovation for Decarbonisation Challenge (WBRID).
StorTera's approach to the challenge is to install a pilot demonstration network at one business park, comprising of large-scale energy storage, solar PV generation and a selection of flexible loads such as heat pumps, electric heating and EV chargers. The solution will utilise StorTera's innovative artificial intelligence control platform to combine and optimise the technologies so the project objectives can be met without adding strain on the electricity network or additional cost to the end users.
An 'energy storage as a service' model for a 250kW/500kWh lithium ferrous phosphate battery system will be developed to demonstrate that large-scale energy storage can be implemented without the significant upfront capital investment while still providing financial benefits to the service user.
The overall aim of the pilot installation project is to demonstrate that the combination of an integrated hardware and software solution along with a profitable business model can provide benefits to all stakeholders and could be replicated at any other business park.
StorTera is also working with Perth and Kinross Council in Scotland, demonstrating a novel smart energy network with their project partner EDF. In this project, StorTera is building the next generation of their single liquid flow battery, a very promising low-cost technology with high energy density and long lifetime. EDF is modelling and demonstrating peer-to-peer energy trading between two sites, a waste depot and a school.
In Canada, StorTera has built a pilot smart grid for the Town of Berwick which includes 10 residential energy storage systems and two commercial scale systems installed at an ice rink and a town hall.
Partnered with Equilibrium Engineering, the team has demonstrated how the systems combined with energy efficiency measures and StorTera's novel AI platform can deliver benefits for homeowners and businesses as well as the local grid operator. This stacking of benefits maximises decarbonisation while sharing the costs between stakeholders and encouraging behavioural change: as essential step towards reaching net zero.
Useful Learnings from StorTera
It is early days for the project but so far we would advise others trying to do similar projects to engage with stakeholders as early as possible in particular with the local grid operator as this can often cause delays in deployment.
We would also advise having a strong supply chain with multiple suppliers in order to mitigate against risks of late delivery or supply issues.
StorTera's Metrics
Number of companies in the chosen business park that agreed to take part in the pilot project.
kWh of solar generation.
kWh of heat generation that is off setting gas consumption.
kWh of energy stored in the battery and used to power buildings and loads.
Tonnes of CO2 savings.
