February 28, 2019: A 325kWh hybrid lead acid and lithium ion energy storage system has been deployed in the UK to deliver peak shifting services through a partnership that includes the Infinite Group, University of Sheffield, Innovate UK and GS Yuasa, the companies announced on February 6.
The ADEPT (advanced multi-energy management and optimization time-shifting platform) was built at GS Yuasa’s manufacturing facility in Ebbw Vale, Wales.
The platform includes a 75kWh lithium-ion battery system of 36 GS Yuasa LIM50 modules alongside a 250Kwh valve regulated lead acid battery system of 240 Yuasa SLR500 cells.
HiT Power, a spin-off from the University of Southampton, delivered the 100kW bi-direction power conversion unit, and the battery management system comes from energy storage specialist Swanbarton.
Peter Stephenson, senior technical co-ordinator at Yuasa, said the cost benefits of using hybrid systems apply where longer power discharge periods are needed.
“For the same power output — 100kW for example — it is possible for us to supply four hours of dual chemistry storage for the same price as two hours of pure lithium ion storage,” he said.
“Lithium ion batteries work mainly in a partial state of charge where it is ready to operate at full charge, or discharge power as the transient requirements of the local conditions develop.
“Whenever the lithium ion battery is in the range of 10%-100% state of charge it is simultaneously providing network service and keeping the lead acid battery in a charged condition. For the longer peak shaving discharges between 5pm and 7.30pm the lead acid battery becomes the main contributor of power.”
The ADEPT concept — consisting of micro-grids with a variety of generation types and storage in the range of 200kW to 2MW — is being expanded to nine sites in Wales with support from the Welsh European Funding Office.
Infinite Renewables was the lead member, and Innovate UK the fund holder for the project. The University of Sheffield was the lead academic partner for the project, contributing PV inverter hardware and software.
There have been a few examples of lead and lithium used together: GS-Yuasa has been supplying dual chemistry telecoms base station systems in Asia since 2015; Hoppecke has a large scale demonstration system in Germany; and German start-up BOS intends to deploy 20,000 hybrid battery units in the future.
Read more from our sister magazine, Energy Storage Journal, here.
