Second Life Batteries for domestic electricity storage (SLB)

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed electricity storage, lowering consumers’ electricity bills, reducing peak demand and increasing the utilisation of onsite renewable energy. Since 2010 the UK has witnessed a solar revolution, with >820,000 households installing solar photovoltaics. However, due to the supply profile of solar generation (high during the day, low during the evening), and typical household demand (low during the day, high in the evenings), households are generally only able to access ~50% of the clean energy produced on site, and remain reliant on the grid at periods of peak demand (e.g. evenings). Installation of domestic storage typically doubles the amount solar generation used onsite, by charging during the day when solar is plentiful, and discharging during periods of peak demand, reducing customer electricity bills, and pressure on the grid during peak periods. The UK's electricity networks face considerable challenges from decarbonisation - with microgeneration, electric vehicle penetration and renewable heat stressing distribution networks which were not designed to take this load. New technologies such as energy storage and demand side response offer potential solutions through increased load flexibility, and increased system resilience. In 2016 the National Infrastructure Commission predicted these technologies, alongside interconnectors, could help instigate a 'smart power revolution' estimated to worth £8 billion in consumer savings annually by 2030. Domestic storage benefits households and the wider electricity system across all three pillars of the energy trilemma; facilitating greater use of local renewable energy, thereby supporting decarbonisation and security of supply objectives, and providing a cost-effective alternative to unnecessary additional generation and network reinforcements. However, in 2015 only ~1000 systems were installed in the UK, with high upfront cost cited as the main barrier. To address this bottleneck, Powervault has spent 3 years undertaking customer research and technical development devising a solution affordable enough to unlock mass market traction. Having successfully completed an Innovate UK Proof of Concept in April 2016, validating technical feasibility, Powervault believes its supply chain innovation, ‘Second Life Batteries’ (“SLB”) can be a game changer for energy storage economics. To transform this lab-tested alpha device into an optimised and market ready proposition, Powervault now seeks to validate SLB in an end user environment, secure emerging areas of IP and complete technical development. SLB will benefit from the expertise of Powervault’s management team and 4 years’ market activity. To date, Powervault has received support and recognition from many organisations including: Innovate UK; RBS Innovation Gateway; NESTA; National Physical Laboratory and Climate-KIC. In 2014 Powervault set a cleantech crowdfunding record, securing investment in <8 hours on Crowdcube and in 2015 BusinessGreen awarded Powervault 'Innovator of the Year'.