Scottish Cities Alliance

When it comes to creating renewable energy solutions that will power our nation, a wealth of forward-thinking initiatives is paving the way for renewable energy solutions.

And one of the latest developments is the increase in the number of battery sites being installed across the country. The battery sites are part of a national green transformation, and they are used to store the excess power that’s generated from renewable sources, such as wind farms.

Britain’s National Grid predicts that the amount of energy storage needed in the UK will grow nearly six times by the end of the decade. And when more wind energy is being generated than people are using, the batteries will store the energy until the wind dies down or demand for electricity increases.

A site in Dundee is at the heart of this energy revolution. The location in West Gourdie near Camperdown Park can supply the National Grid with 50 MW of electricity, which is around 4% of the capacity of Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian.

The site’s operator, Flexitricity, said that the batteries perform a vital role in balancing the supply and demand of electricity.

Flexitricity’s chief executive Andy Lowe said:

“The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. You need flexibility to help fill in the gaps.”

Meanwhile, plans are in place for the UK’s largest battery site to be built at Eaglesham, near the giant wind farm that’s located to the south of Glasgow.

And in Edinburgh, exciting new technology is being developed to make a device called a flow battery. The firm behind the project, StorTera, said that the battery will be better for storing energy for longer periods of time.

Brenda Park, from StorTera, added that the batteries could be housed at wind farms, which would reduce the amount of excess energy being wasted.

She said:

“As the business case improves, there’s going to be a lot of demand for batteries like this in the future.”

So as the renewable energy sector grows, our cities are plugged in to the business opportunities that will help power our nation.