REDT wins ?3.6m DECC award for energy storage

RNS Number : 1816S

Camco Clean Energy PLC

05 November 2013

 



Camco Clean energy plc

REDT wins £3.6 m DECC award for energy storage

Camco Clean Energy plc is pleased to announce that REDT* has won a major funding award of £3.6 million through the Department for Energy and Climate Change ("DECC") Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition toward the demonstration and pre-commercialisation of a 1.26MWh utility scale system of its grid scale flow battery technology. REDT has developed a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) which has important and unique benefits in managing the rapid worldwide growth in renewable energy generation.

Highlights

·     The DECC award provides for the demonstration of REDT's successful storage technology to provide utility scale storage

·     The energy storage market is forecast to reach €15 billion in 2020 and to be €26 billion in 2030

·     REDT's 1.26MWh storage project is designed to demonstrate a cost effective solution for the UK grid and to benefit long term energy prices in the UK and elsewhere.

Background to the award

Earlier this year, DECC announced that REDT was one of 12 organisations that had been awarded approximately £0.5 million (in total) to carry out phase 1 feasibility studies into innovative and diverse energy storage ideas under the Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition. The Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition is being funded and run by DECC and aims to support energy storage research and demonstration.

Following this phase 1, DECC has today announced that it has selected REDT, along with certain other innovators who won funding under the above Energy Storage Technology Demonstration Competition, to take part in the second demonstration phase of this competition with up to £17 million available in total. The award of £3.6 million to REDT, which forms part of this funding amount, will be used to complete a full scale utility 1.26MWh demonstration system and associated research initiatives.

Meeting the demand for energy storage

Electrical energy storage is seen as the next key step in enabling the advance of low carbon generation. The UK Government has set a target for more than 23GW of renewable energy  generation by 2020. A modernised grid will require a minimum of 2GW (5%) in new distributed storage for cost effective delivery of variable generation from renewables.

Storage is one of the fastest moving areas of innovation and the UK is taking a lead in developing low carbon technologies, including energy storage; the DECC competition has been designed to encourage innovation among SME companies in this field.

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Conventional batteries have proved unsuited and short lived for deep cycling applications; a ten year development programme at REDT has resulted in a versatile new energy technology able to address storage needs from small 5kW solar powered Telecom masts ultimately up to 10MW grid connected wind and solar farms.

DECC has selected REDT's technology because of its ability for cost effective time shifting and the balancing of variable generation from renewable sources. The new VRFB grid scale technology will meet the need for efficient distributed storage, combined with the ability to respond instantly to demand,  despatching energy over six to eight hour durations when required. It is also a safe technology using non-flammable materials. The 2.5 year project aims to demonstrate the utility scale system in a demanding UK application and to make the technology ready for full scale commercial manufacture.

Use of award proceeds

One of the UK's largest opportunities for energy storage lies in Scotland which has a target to produce the equivalent of 100% of electricity from renewables by 2020 and estimates that 7GW of storage could be required by 2030. The REDT energy storage demonstration will focus on one of the weakest areas of the UK grid in the highlands and islands of Scotland where there are significant network constraints - these are the same areas that have such excellent potential for renewable energy generation.  These costly-to-alleviate constraints prevent timely and efficient transfer of clean energy to demand customers, place hurdles on national ambition - and represent a great opportunity for REDT products in the UK market and around the world.

The proposed 1.26MWh VRFB storage system will be located on the island of Gigha, situated a few miles off the Kintyre peninsula, and with limited connection to the mainland via an ageing subsea cable. Project partners include Scottish and Southern Energy - Power Distribution (SSE), EA Technology Ltd., Community Energy Scotland (CES) and Gigha Green Power Ltd. (GGPL).

Generation and distribution issues to be addressed on Gigha include storage of 'wrong time' wind energy produced by the established wind farm on the island and despatch at peak rates, peak shaving and power regulation, deferral of capital upgrades of over-utilised transmission assets, potential standby power for the island during network faults or power outages, and enabling a minimum 20% increase in wind and solar generation with associated additional income for the island.

The National Grid has an ever increasing need for balancing power to handle wind variability in the UK. The present practice of curtailing wind energy output at times of high output and low demand is costly and ineffective - for example, a record £1.8m in 'constraint payments' were made to switch off or slow down wind turbines in Scotland alone on August 3^rd this year. This is a cost which is ultimately paid for by consumers.

Due to its variability, renewable generation cannot yet be directly compared with conventional generation. REDT flow battery storage has the potential to bring renewable generation into the mainstream, enabling UK growth targets to be met and ultimately fixing long term generation costs using clean and free natural fuel.

Further details of the award can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/5-million-boost-for-energy-storage-innovation

Scott McGregor, Chief Executive Officer Camco and Executive Chairman REDT, said:

"We are proud that our dedicated team at Camco and REDT has, after more than 10 years under a focused R&D program, developed a strong technology solution for utility scale storage ready for demonstration.  This utility product once demonstrated will add to our portfolio of other commercial storage applications.  A cost effective environmentally responsible and stable storage solution is critical for the energy sector to take a quantum step forward to fully utilise renewables.  Energy storage is crucial for us to address climate change and provide clean energy for future generations." 

Enquiries:

Camco Clean Energy plc                                          [phone]

Scott McGregor, Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan Marren, Chief Financial Officer

N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser and Broker)             [phone]

Andrew Craig

Ben Wright

About Camco Clean Energy

Camco Clean Energy plc (AIM: CCE) is an experienced project developer working to develop, construct, deliver and operate projects that contribute to building a sustainable future.

With more than 20 years of successful project delivery we help clients in Asia, North America, Africa and Europe to implement clean energy and emission reduction solutions, reducing costs and maximise financial and environmental benefits. We have an outstanding track record in technical delivery and commercial expertise, working with local industry, multinational companies, governments and regulatory bodies.

About REDT www.poweringnow.com

REDT has developed a new and proprietary energy storage technology which enables the efficient and sustainable storage of electrical energy in liquid form.  The multi-valent properties of the Vanadium Redox electrolyte are used to provide a storage medium of virtually unlimited life with a system able to last more than 10,000 deep charge/discharge cycles. Combined with its very low maintenance requirements, REDT systems are able to deliver some of the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) results in the industry, Long discharge durations are achieved by the simple addition of extra electrolyte capacity at a relatively low marginal cost.

Until now it has not been possible to directly compare variable RE generation with firm diesel or fossil fuel generation. PV + Storage is now reaching 'grid parity' in many countries, a paradigm shift in energy production, which will ultimately enable the complete displacement of conventional fossil fuel power with renewable generation. The REDT system has applications in remote power, smart grids, power quality, and all aspects of renewable energy management.

* Camco Clean Energy plc, on a fully diluted basis, has an economic interest of 49% in REDT.

 

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