In The News

7 July 2021

Battery Storage at the heart of Infinite energy centres

A lead-acid and lithium-ion battery hybrid storage system in Wales has reached a first project milestone with the installation of solar panels, the renewable energy developer Infinite said on June 22.

The centre is one of up to seven local energy centre schemes under a ‘Generation Storage Consumption Supply’ project in Wales being grant funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

It comprises a combination of lead and lithium batteries to back up power generated by a 1MWh rooftop solar array at GS Yuasa’s battery factory, and in a second stage a wind turbine will be installed to supply electricity directly to the site.

The solar panels supply around 5% of the factory’s needs, and excess energy will be stored in the hybrid battery system, which will be housed in a battery container to complete the microgrid.

“The project brings a number of benefits to our Ebbw Vale factory and the wider Rassau Industrial Estate,” said Shaun Gardner, managing director of GS Yuasa Manufacturing UK.

“The unique combination of our lithium and lead-acid batteries, the latter of which are produced on site in South Wales, allows for the storage of greener energy, generated by either solar or wind, to be used at a later date.”