Anglian Water partners for solar and energy storage project

Anglian Water has partnered with redT and Open Energi to have energy storage facilities installed alongside solar panels at one of its water treatment works.

The water company has purchased a 60kW/300kWh redT energy storage machine to install alongside a 450kWp solar PV system. This will enable it to store excess solar generated during the day and use it at other times, to reduce the site’s reliance on the grid.

As the largest power consumer in the East of England, reducing reliance on “volatile grid electricity” will help optimise a £77 million energy bill, which is one of the company’s “most significant” operational costs.

Over the next 18 months, Anglian will be building more than 30MWp of solar under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) contract with HBS New Energies and Macquarie Principal Finance.

This programme of work will reduce carbon emissions by 15,000 tonnes of CO2 and increase renewables generation by approximately 25 per cent to deliver annual savings of more than £1 million.

The move will help Anglian with its bid to become carbon neutral by 2050. It will be followed by a second “significant” solar programme which will shortly be out for tender.

Investing in energy storage infrastructure will enable Anglian to increase onsite solar generation by 80 per cent at the “pathfinder” site in Norfolk from 248kWp to 450 kWp.

Anglian will be able to take advantage of wholesale energy price arbitrage with the energy storage machine from redT, which will provide real-time balancing services.

In total, the project is expected to reduce site electricity costs by 50 per cent per annum by 2040.

Anglian Water and redT are partnering with energy tech company, Open Energi, to ensure “maximum benefits” are derived from the pathfinder. The flow machine will be fitted with Open Energi’s software which uses artificial intelligence to optimise energy consumption and stack multiple demand-side value streams.

Jason Tucker, director of alliances and integrated supply chain at Anglian Water, said: “We are very happy to be at the forefront of our industry by taking part in this ground-breaking project.

“This pathfinder integrates, rather than simply co-locates, storage and solar.  The approach will enable us to develop future-proof solutions for managing energy more flexibly and efficiently, whilst increasing resilience.

“Using redT’s flexible energy storage infrastructure alongside Open Energi’s smart software will allow us to unlock more solar power, as well as allowing us to participate in grid services to further reduce our energy bills.

“Most importantly, this collaborative project will provide us with invaluable insight to support our future energy strategy, as one of the largest energy ‘prosumers’ in the East of England.”