The UK’s largest industrial-scale project combining both battery storage and solar PV has been officially unveiled by Lyreco and EvoEnergy. The Tesla 500 kW / 950 kWh battery energy storage system (BESS) is now providing services to the grid whilst also powering Lyreco’s busy distribution centre alongside the award winning 3.8 MWp solar PV array installed in 2016.
Through aggregators, Limejump, the BESS will provide a sub-second frequency response by ‘supplying’ energy when the local grid is in demand and ‘absorbing’ excess energy from the grid when surplus power exists. This contract, lasting 15 years, is generating income for Lyreco and is a leading example of how businesses can work with the grid in the future.
With the huge rooftop solar array helping to power the site during the day time, any excess generation can now also be stored in the BESS and released back in to the site at a later time to reduce its demand from the grid.
EvoEnergy announced securing the BESS project in August 2017 and with work starting almost immediately, the BESS was installed and operational in time for the upcoming Triad period starting just 10 weeks later in November (and running to February 2018). By releasing stored energy in to the site during these triad periods to show a reduced demand from the grid, Lyreco are expected to make substantial savings on their energy bill levies.
As part of the same project, EvoEnergy are also installing three PodPoint22 kW fast electric vehicle charging stations in the company’s car park as an incentive for staff to change to electric vehicles in the future.
Lyreco are now a leading reference site for using multiple green technologies as part of a complete smart energy solution. The site is also a snapshot of the UK’s energy future and will hopefully encourage other businesses to follow suit.
EvoEnergy will be publishing a comprehensive case study on the project in due course.