Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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12 | AUGUST 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Water companies keen on energy storage for renewables E nergy storage via batteries is the technology that water companies are most keen to see to transform their renewable energy strategies, delegates heard at the WWT Water Industry Energy conference. Effective on-site energy storage would help smooth out the peaks and troughs that are inherent in renewable generation via solar panels and wind turbines, the conference in Birmingham heard. It would help large treatment sites become more self- sufficient by making the most of their own generation capability to avoid using grid power, especially at peak times when energy is more expensive. "We are looking into energy storage. Battery storage is everybody's favourite at the moment," said Ray Arrell, Renewable Energy Engineer at South West Water. "I think there's a real operational opportunity at some of our sites." He said that sites with solar installations could particularly benefit, as it would be possible to store energy from times of peak generation during the day and use it during times of higher demand in the evening. Steve Slavin, Head of Renewable Energy and Programme Delivery at United Utilities, agreed that solar power in conjunction with battery storage had great potential, but said he was yet to see technology that met all the requirements. "We keep hearing they're coming but nobody's put one in front of me and said 'this will work'," said Slavin. "There's promises out there, and the best intentions, but at the moment it's all talk – the responsibility is on suppliers to get the technology on the table." Mike Pedley, Head of Energy at Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, gave the conference a case study of renewable energy in action at the utility's Five Fords Wastewater Treatment Works near Wrexham. The site, which serves 96,000 households, had anaerobic digestion and CHP engines put in in 2012; last year, a gas-to-grid connection was made and 2.5MW of solar PV generation was added. The site is a fully-fledged 'Wastewater Energy Park'; said Pedley; the challenge for operators is to get the different elements working together to provide the maximum benefit for the business. Energy storage would help with these efforts and Welsh Water is now investigating it, even though it was not part of the plans for solar power at the site drawn up two years ago. "That reflects how quickly things are moving with energy storage," said Pedley. THE SPEAKERS "Anything you can do to generate your energy during peak times can have a massive impact on your bottom line." Andrew Donald Distributed Energy Development Manager British Gas "By packaging this together, we made something that encouraged people in our business to think about what's possible." Mike Pedley Energy Manager Welsh Water "We are moving from managing energy by consumption, to managing by efficiency. Our strategy is measure, manage, reduce." Chris Evans Energy Programme Manager Anglian Water James Brockett reports from Birmingham To take away 1. Water companies are currently very interested in battery and energy storage technologies which could help them make the most of generating capability through the day and lower energy costs 2. The removal of government incentives and planning constraints mean that wind power is losing its appeal as a renewable energy source for water companies, but solar remains viable 3. The introduction of Totex means that water utilities have more flexibility in whether energy generation arrangements are made in-house, contracted out to a 3rd party, or some combination of the two 4. The water industry has a large number of assets that can supply high frequency demand response to the National Grid, an extremely profitable opportunity 5. Managing energy use by an asset's efficiency, rather than its energy consumption figure, is a key change in mindset that the industry must make. "In the old days we struggled to invest in solar PV ourselves because there were a lot of people fighting for the capital available. Totex gives us much more flexibility." Graham Southall Head of Commercial Projects, Thames Water NEXT EVENT WWT Integrated Water Resource Mgt Conference, Birmingham, Sep 14th Events