An “energy superhub” was announced in early April for the city of Oxford in England, featuring storage, a ground-source district heating system, and fast charging for electric vehicles.
The project will see Pivot Power install what it bills as the world’s largest commercial hybrid energy storage system, at 50 MW. It will combine the capabilities of a lithium-ion battery with 2 MW / 5 MWh of the heavy cycling, non-degrading characteristics of vanadium redox flow battery, supplied by UK energy storage experts, redT energy. The company explains that utilizing both lithium-ion and vanadium redox flow batteries together in one hybrid system combines their strengths to meet the complex demands of multiple applications while extending the lifespan of the lithium-ion battery.
A 10 km network of fast and ultra-rapid charging stations will be connected directly to the high-voltage transmission system. An optimization platform will control the energy storage, importing and exporting power to help balance the grid second by second, giving it the flexibility to bring more wind and solar onto the system. The optimization platform will also manage electric vehicles and heat pumps. The University of Oxford will evaluate the performance of the energy storage system, and assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of the project on local stakeholders.
That hybrid system will not be entirely unique. Energy Storage News reported in April that a recently completed microgrid project at a rural village in Thailand, high up in a mountainous region in the country’s north, pairs lithium-ion batteries from an unnamed Chinese manufacturer with zinc-bromine flow batteries from Australian firm Redflow. The system can take care of the villagers’ energy needs at night or even cloudy days.
The flow batteries are expected to be the best for baseload management and, when demand gets higher, then lithium batteries can meet those peak demands. The configuration prolongs the life expectancy for both types of batteries. Original story here.