1.3 Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio – economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
Market
Energy Storage
Although storage technologies are seemingly ubiquitous throughout the world, very few have actually been implemented in the commercial sector, offering paybacks below 6 years. The Virtue system is one of the first commercial systems in the UK market that has been able to demonstrate the aforementioned, showing that storage is now feasible not just for the sake of utility, but also as a means for generating revenue and increasing the effectiveness of renewable systems.
The government have released numerous reports and studies, resulting in huge market awareness. One report written by Frontier Economics on behalf of the UK government, states the following:
“Both grid-level storage and enhanced automated voltage control might offer significant potential for load shifting and reduction respectively. The latter technology in particular is not frequently considered existing literature (perhaps because it does not fit neatly into the categories of “generation”, “DSR”, and “storage”). It may be worthwhile further investigating the costs and capabilities of these systems (for example, incorporating the results of trials into DECC’s modelling as they become available)”
This excerpt shows that not only is there demand for storage, but also for voltage optimisation, which is an integral part of the Virtue system, and in effect is what separates the PVPS solution from any other competing solutions.
2016 has seen the introduction of Demand-Side Response (DSR), a new technology that uses the flexibility of electricity consumers to help balance supply and demand, turning down load or turning up small generators when power stations fail or when demand spikes unexpectedly. DSR can keep the lights on with less pollution and at lower cost than fossil-fuelled power stations.
The results from the pre – cursor to the PVPS solution were seen as compelling from ASDA supermarkets, and as well as ASDA agreeing to be the host 3rd party member to the PVPS solution, the company is also looking to rollout the Virtue solution throughout its supermarkets and Distribution Centres. Many companies are now looking to the PVPS solution as a “green” UPS, with considerable interests from some very large data centre operators, looking to swap out old, poor performing lead acid based systems.
Electric Vehicle charging has been added as a function of the PVPS solution. With most EU countries committing to zero emmision transport targets in the next 15 years we expect the EV charging feature to drive significant demand.
Our compelling business proposition combined with a fiance solution for the client is attracting significant interest. We expect that PVPS will become 75% of our turnover by the end of the project from a standing start.
