Batwind will be developed in co-operation with universities and suppliers in Scotland, under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Edinburgh on 18th March between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and Scottish Enterprise. It will subsequently be piloted at the Hywind pilot park, the world’s first floating wind farm, which is currently under construction off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
Battery storage has the potential to mitigate intermittency and optimise output, thereby improving efficiency and reducing 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” said Stephen Bull, Statoil’s senior vice president for offshore wind. “By developing innovative battery storage solutions, we can improve the value of wind energy for both Statoil and customers. With Batwind, we can optimise the energy system from wind park to grid. Battery storage represents a new application in our offshore wind portfolio, contributing to realising our ambition of profitable growth in this area.”
The company will install a 1 MWh lithium battery based storage pilot system in late 2018 which will provide battery capacity equivalent to that of more than 2 million iPhones. A structured programme 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 programme will be managed by ORE Catapult and Scottish Enterprise.
Mr Bull added that Statoil is very pleased to develop and demonstrate the 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.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said that the signing of the MoU will allow the signatories to work together in the development of the Batwind battery storage solution. This will help to maximise the renewable generation of the Hywind farm, while informing the case for energy storage and demonstrating the technology’s ability to support renewables in Scotland and internationally.
A recent report produced by the Carbon Trust found that if the energy market was adapted to reflect the benefits of electricity storage, it could lead to savings of up to £50 per year on an average energy bill and a system wide saving of up to £2.4 billion per year by 2030.
Hywind is expected to begin generating electricity in late 2017.
For additional information:
