Second Life Batteries for domestic electricity storage (SLB)

Powervault的目标是成为英国第一家具有成本效益的分布式电力存储专业供应商，降低消费者的电费，减少高峰需求，提高现场可再生能源的利用率。自2010年以来，英国见证了一场太阳能革命，有820,000户家庭安装了太阳能光伏发电。然而，由于太阳能发电的供应概况（白天高，晚上低）和典型的家庭需求（白天低，晚上高），家庭通常只能获得现场生产的约50%的清洁能源，并且在需求高峰时期（例如晚上）仍然依赖电网。通过在太阳能充足的白天充电，在需求高峰期间放电，安装家庭储能系统通常会使现场使用的太阳能发电量增加一倍，从而减少客户的电费账单，并在高峰期间减轻电网的压力。英国的电力网络面临着来自脱碳的相当大的挑战——微型发电、电动汽车的普及和可再生热能对配电网络造成的压力，而这些分配网络的设计初衷并不是为了承受这种负荷。能源存储和需求侧响应等新技术通过提高负载灵活性和系统弹性提供了潜在的解决方案。2016年，英国国家基础设施委员会（National Infrastructure Commission）预测，到2030年，这些技术与互联技术一起，可能有助于引发一场“智能电力革命”，预计每年可为消费者节省80亿英镑。家庭储能有利于家庭和更广泛的电力系统，跨越能源三难困境的所有三大支柱；促进更多地使用本地可再生能源，从而支持脱碳和供应目标的安全性，并为不必要的额外发电和网络增援提供一种具有成本效益的替代方案。然而，2015年英国仅安装了约1000套系统，高昂的前期成本被认为是主要障碍。为了解决这一瓶颈，Powervault花了3年时间进行客户研究和技术开发，设计出一种价格合理的解决方案，以释放大众市场的吸引力。Powervault于2016年4月成功完成了Innovate UK概念验证，验证了技术可行性，并相信其供应链创新“第二生命电池”（“SLB”）可以改变储能经济的游戏规则。为了将这种实验室测试的alpha设备转变为优化的市场准备产品，Powervault现在寻求在最终用户环境中验证SLB，保护新兴IP领域并完成技术开发。SLB将受益于Powervault管理团队的专业知识和4年的市场活动。迄今为止，Powervault已经得到了许多组织的支持和认可，包括：Innovate UK；RBS创新门户；内斯塔;国家物理实验室和气候kic。2014年，Powervault创造了清洁技术众筹记录，在Crowdcube上不到8小时就获得了投资。2015年，BusinessGreen授予Powervault“年度创新者”。

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed electricity storage, lowering consumers’ electricity bills, reducing peak demand and increasing the utilisation of onsite renewable energy. Since 2010 the UK has witnessed a solar revolution, with >820,000 households installing solar photovoltaics. However, due to the supply profile of solar generation (high during the day, low during the evening), and typical household demand (low during the day, high in the evenings), households are generally only able to access ~50% of the clean energy produced on site, and remain reliant on the grid at periods of peak demand (e.g. evenings). Installation of domestic storage typically doubles the amount solar generation used onsite, by charging during the day when solar is plentiful, and discharging during periods of peak demand, reducing customer electricity bills, and pressure on the grid during peak periods. The UK's electricity networks face considerable challenges from decarbonisation - with microgeneration, electric vehicle penetration and renewable heat stressing distribution networks which were not designed to take this load. New technologies such as energy storage and demand side response offer potential solutions through increased load flexibility, and increased system resilience. In 2016 the National Infrastructure Commission predicted these technologies, alongside interconnectors, could help instigate a 'smart power revolution' estimated to worth £8 billion in consumer savings annually by 2030. Domestic storage benefits households and the wider electricity system across all three pillars of the energy trilemma; facilitating greater use of local renewable energy, thereby supporting decarbonisation and security of supply objectives, and providing a cost-effective alternative to unnecessary additional generation and network reinforcements. However, in 2015 only ~1000 systems were installed in the UK, with high upfront cost cited as the main barrier. To address this bottleneck, Powervault has spent 3 years undertaking customer research and technical development devising a solution affordable enough to unlock mass market traction. Having successfully completed an Innovate UK Proof of Concept in April 2016, validating technical feasibility, Powervault believes its supply chain innovation, ‘Second Life Batteries’ (“SLB”) can be a game changer for energy storage economics. To transform this lab-tested alpha device into an optimised and market ready proposition, Powervault now seeks to validate SLB in an end user environment, secure emerging areas of IP and complete technical development. SLB will benefit from the expertise of Powervault’s management team and 4 years’ market activity. To date, Powervault has received support and recognition from many organisations including: Innovate UK; RBS Innovation Gateway; NESTA; National Physical Laboratory and Climate-KIC. In 2014 Powervault set a cleantech crowdfunding record, securing investment in <8 hours on Crowdcube and in 2015 BusinessGreen awarded Powervault 'Innovator of the Year'.