A new battery storage solution for offshore wind energy will be piloted at the world’s first floating wind farm, the Hywind pilot park off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Batwind will be developed in co-operation with Scottish universities and suppliers, under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Edinburgh on March 18 between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, and Scottish Enterprise.
Battery storage, like Batwind, can improve efficiency and lower costs for offshore wind sites.
Battery storage has the potential to mitigate intermittency and optimize output. This can improve efficiency and lower costs for offshore wind. The pilot in Scotland will provide a technological and commercial foundation for the implementation of Batwind in full-scale offshore wind farms, opening new commercial opportunities in a growing market.
“Statoil has a strong position in offshore wind. By developing innovative battery storage solutions, we can improve the value of wind energy for both Statoil and customers,” said Stephen Bull, Statoil’s Senior VP for offshore wind. “With Batwind, we can optimize the energy system from wind park to grid. Battery storage represents a new application in our offshore wind portfolio, contributing to realizing our ambition of profitable growth in this area.”
Statoil will install a 1-MWh Lithium battery-based storage pilot system in late 2018. This equals the battery capacity of more than two million iPhones.
The pilot will be part of Hywind Scotland, an innovative offshore wind park with five floating wind turbines located 25 km offshore Peterhead. The wind park is currently under construction and start of electricity production is expected in late 2017.
A structured program is now being established under the MoU to support and fund innovation in the battery storage area between Statoil and Scottish industry and academia. This program will be managed by ORE Catapult and Scottish Enterprise.
Photo from the signing of the Batwind MoU.
Bull said: “We are very pleased to develop and demonstrate this concept in Scotland, which has a huge wind resource, strong academic institutions and an experienced supply chain. The agreement between Statoil, the Scottish Government, ORE Catapult and Scottish Enterprise represents a unique opportunity for government, researchers and industry to work together to develop new energy solutions for the global market.”
“The signing of this MoU will allow the signatories to work together in the development of the Batwind battery storage solution,” said Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing. “This will help maximize the renewable generation of the Hywind offshore wind farm, whilst informing the case for energy storage and demonstrating the technology’s ability to support renewables in Scotland and internationally.”
He added: “A recent industry and Government report, produced by the Carbon Trust, concluded that if the energy market was adapted to appropriately recognise the benefits of electricity storage to the wider system, this could lead to savings of up to £50 a year on an average energy bill and a system wide saving of up to £2.4bn a year by 2030.”
Statoil
www.statoil.com
Filed Under: Energy storage, News, Offshore wind
