Ireland and Northern Ireland’s integrated electricity system could save €19m a year from 2019-20 by using battery-based energy storage to stabilise the grid, according to a report by Queen’s University Belfast (QUB).
The findings of the two-year study, funded by Innovate UK Energy Catalyst, showed that 360MW of battery storage could provide the same fast frequency response as 3GW of conventional power.
The QUB research project studied operating data from AES’s 10MW Kilroot Advancion energy storage array in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, since its deployment in January 2016.
It found that cost reductions could be achieved by using batteries to provide “inertial response” – stabilising the grid in the fractions of a second following a system fault.
QUB professor John Morrow said: “By demonstrating the proven ability of batteries in the all-island system to provide ‘digital inertia’, the team has identified a clear technological innovation where the island of Ireland can lead the world.”
The research was guided by a steering group including AES UK & Ireland, NIE Networks, System Operator Northern Ireland and the Utility Regulator for Northern Ireland.
Image: AES
Batteries could save Irish €19m
Queen's University Belfast report says cost reductions achieved by 'inertial response'
By EBS