ECI congratulates Irish Company RedT on its acquiring a £3.5m grant from the UK’s Dept of Energy (DECC) to develop a utility scale energy storage system on the Scottish Island of Gigha.
The Gigha project will involve the installation of a 100kw/1.26MWh RedT vanadium redox battery (VRB) system which will enable the island’s community to maximize the benefits of renewable energy supplied by its wind turbines. This utility scale system will be a valuable http://www.gigha.org.uk/home/tour/show.php?curr=4proving ground for the technology at the utility scale which could will provide the most viable solution to the renewable energy intermittency issue.
The island has some 630kw of wind generation commissioned since 2005 and plans to install a further 330kw with a new Enercon E-33. The island’s poor grid connection means however that the 100kw VRB is crucial to their maximizing renewable energy returns for the community.
The VRB provides probably the only viable utility level energy storage system as it has a vastly greater life-cycle and lower operational demand than rival batteries both traditional and recently developed . It promises a safe, stable and reliable means of providing energy that is generated by solar cells and wind turbines when it is needed as opposed to when it is available.
RedT’s battery also has many smaller scale applications in the 5-20kw range which it is hoped will prove extremely beneficial to residential and small business users. The company has successfully installed their battery in these situations over the past few years.
ECI has been working with RedT for the past year and has recently signed a distributorship deal with the Irish company to sell their ENIFY VRB system to the agricultural sector in Scotland. We hope to be launching our products into the market very soon.
For more infirmation: