UK Power Networks starts two year ‘big battery’ trial

The two year trial period of a giant battery known as the Smarter Network Storage Facility by UK Power Networks (UKPN) at Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire has started today.

The 6MW “big battery” is installed at one of Leighton Buzzard’s main substation sites and is the largest storage facility of its type in Europe, according to UKPN.

The aim of the trials is to maximise the potential of energy storage to benefit both the local network and the wider UK system in a number of sustainable and flexible ways. UKPN added that the project should demonstrate how batteries can make the electricity network more efficient and enable more low carbon technologies to be connected into the existing grid.

The trials will also include research and recommendations into future regulatory and market frameworks for storage that will be shared with the government and Ofgem, as well as other network operators and trade associations.

After touring the site and officially switching on the facility, parliamentary under secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd said: “Cutting edge smart networks like this will both enhance UK skills and allow us to capture and store new forms of energy generation. This will help us to build a smart grid, which reduces the need for further costly investment in grid reinforcement by enabling greater integration of cleaner renewable energy sources into our existing energy network. That is why schemes like the ‘big battery’ are so important for our ambition to move to a low carbon economy.”

The Smarter Network Storage project was awarded funding of £13.2 million from the Low Carbon Networks Fund. This was supplemented with £4 million from UK Power Networks and £1.2 million from project partners who are a mix of businesses and academic institutions which are helping to deliver Smarter Network Storage.