Pivot Power is developing a hybrid 50MW lithium-ion battery and a 2MW vanadium redox flow battery project in Oxford which it says will be the world’s largest.
Invinity Energy Systems is to supply the batteries for the system which will share a grid connection with an 8km private wire network being developed for a new electric vehicle charging network for the English city.
Pivot Power, owned by EDF Renewables, said the hybrid system will combine the high-power capabilities of a lithium-ion battery with the heavy cycling, non-degrading characteristics of vanadium redox flow technology to create an “innovative solution which will meet the complex demands of multiple energy applications”.
The battery project will be connected directly to the transmission network.
Pivot Power said Habitat Energy’s machine learning technology will optimise the system and help balance the grid by enabling greater use of clean, renewable energy sources, while carrying out trading on the day ahead, intraday and balancing mechanism markets.
It will also predict overall demand on the private wire network to support the management of future fleet charging.
Alongside the battery 100 EV charge points are to be installed across the city for council vehicle depots and public use. The council is also taking delivery of 33 electric vehicles, funded by ESO, a three-year £41m project announced last year which has received £10m from the government’s Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge.
The project is led by Oxford City Council and Pivot Power (an EDF Renewables UK company) and includes Habitat Energy, Invinity Energy Systems (previously redT energy), Kensa Contracting and the University of Oxford.
Tim Rose, ESO Programme Manager, Pivot Power said: “Pivot Power’s purpose is to accelerate the UK’s transition to a clean, electric future. The smart power network we are installing in Oxford will deliver flexible, reliable power at scale to fast-track EV adoption.
“Our aim is to replicate this model throughout the UK, supporting greater renewable generation and delivering power where and when it is needed to enable mass-scale, rapid electric vehicle charging.”