The city of Cottingham, and its 17,000 inhabitants, is clearly not the best known in the kingdom of England. Yet it is in this town in the county of East Yorkshire that the largest battery energy storage system in Europe has just been launched.
A boon for Europe
This huge structure is called the “Pillswood project” and is used to store electricity produced from renewable, solar or wind energy. In detail, this center will make it possible to conserve up to 196 Mwh of electricity. Taken in isolation, this figure does not tell us much, but it will supply 300,000 British homes for two hours, specifies The Next Web.
Pillswood, and the other projects that are emerging throughout Europe will be essential to enable the old continent to reach sufficient levels to ensure the energy transition. The EU thus estimates its storage needs at 200 GW by 2030 and 600 GW by 2050.
If storage is so essential, it is because of the very nature of renewable energies. These are intermittent, and the preservation of the electricity produced is imperative, otherwise decarbonization efforts could be reduced to nothing.
Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, recently stated that energy storage: “will help facilitate the integration of renewable energies and the electrification of the economy, while increasing the flexibility and security of the energy system. The deployment of energy storage solutions in Europe must accelerate”.
And in the United States, the Biden administration has recently accelerated on renewable energy and the fight against climate change. Therefore, the question of storage will necessarily be asked soon.
Could a CO2 battery be a game-changer?
It is interesting to note that some alternative projects are currently being launched. We spoke to you very recently about the Italian startup Energy Dome, which has developed the world’s first CO2 battery. This is a major innovation for improving the storage of intermittent energies.
Moreover, this system would be less expensive and less harmful to the environment than massive lithium batteries. Energy Dome intends to conquer the American market. The company is currently making its mark locally, and is aiming for commercial deployment by 2024.
Finally, note that other companies offer alternative systems like Tesla and its Powerwall. This battery makes it possible to store the excess energy produced by the solar panels. It does, however, remain connected to the main power grid in case the battery runs out due to prolonged periods of bad weather.
Source: Presse-Citron
I am a journalist with over 6 years of experience working in the news industry. I currently work as an author for Global Happenings, and my coverage focuses on Technology news. I have written for various publications, including Reuters, The New York Times and The Guardian.
