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Pivot Power has struck a deal with energy technology firm Wartsila to deliver 100 MW of energy storage as part of its plan to create a nationwide network of up to 2GW of batteries support to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Two 50MW lithium-ion battery systems, installed by Wartsila at Cowley in Oxford and Kemsley in Kent, will be the first in the fleet to be completed. They are expected to be fully operational before the end of this year.
Announcing the plans in 2018, Pivot Power said it intends to install a 50MW battery system and up to 100 electric vehicle chargers at 45 locations around the country.
The firm said co-locating batteries and chargers and connecting them to the transmission network will reduce building and operating costs, allowing it to minimise the size of the grid connection and gain a competitive advantage over those installing them separately. It has since lowered the number of sites to 40 after ruling some of them out at the planning stage.
Adrien Lebrun, Pivot Power’s engineering director, said: “These Wärtsilä energy storage systems allow us to harness cutting-edge technology to future-proof our investments in a changing energy market, supporting our long-term goal to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint and bring us closer to net zero.”
Andrew Tang, vice president, energy storage and optimisation at Wärtsilä Energy Business, said: “These exciting projects will support a cost-effective, reliable and low-carbon energy system and promote the rapid adoption of clean transport in the UK.”
The facility at Oxford will share its connection with a 2MW redox flow battery supplied by RedT. They will be operated together as hybrid storage system as part of the Energy Superhub Oxford project, which was awarded £10 million of funding by UK Research and Innovation last April.
The system will be used help Oxford City Council to electrify its fleets of vans and bin lorries by supplying it directly through a new power line.
The deal with Wartsila comes after Pivot Power was acquired by French energy giant EDF’s renewable generation arm last year.
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