Batteries, Exports, and Energy Security:
The deployment of 12GW of battery storage by the end of 2021 is achievable and can support post-Brexit growth
December 2017
A position paper by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Energy Storage
Foreword
Peter Aldous MP – Chair of the APPG on Energy Storage
“How Britain generates, trades, and consumes electricity is rapidly changing.
Efficient, ultra-responsive, and affordable storage is at the heart of this change and its growing deployment holds the potential to make our electricity more affordable, and to make our energy system more consumer-oriented. Driven by the coming shift towards a more electrified vehicle fleet, the cost of stationary battery storage, the technology which this report focuses on, is falling rapidly. It is my belief that there is significant commercial interest and a wide array of applications for these technologies, ranging from balancing the output and voltage of a solar farm to reducing grid stress caused by rapid electric vehicle charging.
There are also advanced manufacturing opportunities emerging if we are sagacious enough to act swiftly to become a research hub, upskill our workforce, and to develop markets for battery products. It is policy however, not technology, that is overwhelmingly the most major obstacle to rapid and widespread deployment of battery storage systems. The industry is facing a plethora of regulations, most of them vestiges from a past age in energy, that need to be amended and upgraded, each of which is moving at a different speed towards implementation. Additionally, key market players such as National Grid, the local distribution operators, and the independent regulator Ofgem are all looking at their role in this changing energy system, driven by the rapid uptake of decentralised and renewable power, and are proposing reforms to how they operate to facilitate this historic shift.
It is my pleasure to present this report which strives to quantify the impact of these policy changes on the market, and thank the Renewable Energy Association for their work in drafting it. The Government’s Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, launched in July 2017, provides a strong blueprint and timeline for what needs to happen. To champion this technology and to capture the opportunities before us, I urge the Government to prioritise this plan and have it implemented as swiftly as possible.”