New Octopus Energy Makes First Investment To Develop UK’s Largest Battery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewable Energy Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
Octopus Energy Group has launched its new renewables fund Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) which has just made its debut investment in renewables developer Exagen to build new green energy and rapidly grow the UK’s energy storage capacity.
These three paragraphs outline the deal with Exagen.
This latest multi-million pound deal sees OEDP take a 24 percent stake in Exagen, which is working on large-scale solar and battery facilities, partnering with farmers, landowners and local communities to build projects that help bring energy security.
This deal includes the option to purchase one of the UK’s largest batteries at 500 MW/1 GWh located in the Midlands, England, scheduled to be operational by 2027. This standalone battery would be the UK’s largest, and with the capacity to export the equivalent electricity usage of 235,000 homes in a single day. Batteries provide grid-balancing services by storing cheap green energy when it is abundant, and releasing it when it is needed.
As part of the agreement, OEDP has also acquired three solar farms with batteries on-site in the Midlands and North East of England, which Exagen is currently developing. The solar farms have a combined capacity of approximately 400 MW. Exagen already has 2 GW of solar and battery storage projects in their pipeline, which Octopus will be able to invest in once they’re ready to build.
I am intrigued about the 500 MW/1 GWh battery!
Will it be lithium-ion?
The largest lithium-ion battery in the world is currently the 400 MW/1.6 GWh battery at Moss Landing Power Plant in California, which offers more storage capacity, but less output than Exagen’s proposed battery.
Exagen’s battery needs to be operational by 2027, which means that there is almost five years for an alternative technology to be thoroughly tested.
Highview Power say this about their proposed CRYOBattery in Yorkshire, on their web site.
Highview Power’s second commercial renewable energy power station in the UK is a 200MW/2.5GWh facility in Yorkshire. This is the first of 18 sites for UK wide deployment strategically located to benefit from the existing transmission infrastructure.
A battery similar to Highview’s proposed battery in Yorkshire, would surely be big enough.
Exagen’s battery could be one of the eighteen mentioned on Highview Power’s web site.
As Highview are currently building their first commercial system at Carrington in Manchester and hope to commission it this year, there should be enough time to debug the design.
But there are other companies, who may have the capability to build a large enough battery in the timescale.
On the other hand, lithium-ion would be the conservative choice.
Octopus Energy On Xlinks
Today, Octopus Energy published a web page, which is entitled Backing Cheaper, Greener Energy Globally, giving more details of the Xlinks project.
I first wrote about the tie-up between Octopus Energy and Xlinks in Xlinks Welcomes New Investor Octopus Energy In Providing Cheap Green Power To Over 7 Million Homes.
Points made in the page on the Octopus web page include.
- The project will cover over 570 square miles in Morocco with 7GW of solar and 3.5GW of wind generation alongside a 20GWh battery storage facility.
- This green energy powerhouse will be connected to the UK via 2,361 miles of HVDC subsea cables.
- The cables will be built with British steel in a new factory in Hunterton, Scotland.
- It also appears that the site of the project has been chosen to optimise energy collection.
This project appears to be excellently-thought out to bring large benefits to all stakeholders.
Xlinks Welcomes New Investor Octopus Energy In Providing Cheap Green Power To Over 7 Million Homes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Xlinks.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Xlinks is pleased to announce a financial and strategic partnership with energy tech pioneer Octopus Energy Group.
The Morocco – UK Power Project will speed up the UK’s transition to net zero by laying four 3,800km-long subsea cables to connect a huge renewable energy farm in the Moroccan desert with Devon in South West England. Morocco is setting its sights on becoming a world leader in solar energy, already boasting some of the world’s largest solar arrays, and meeting two-fifths of its electricity demand with renewables. There will be huge economic benefits to both countries involved, with Xlinks bringing green energy and engineering jobs to both the UK and Morocco.
The project will diversify UK supply routes and boost energy security through the supply of 3.6 GW of reliable, clean power to the UK for an average of 20 hours a day, enough green energy to power about 7 million homes.
Note.
- The cables will be nearly 2,400 miles
- It is scheduled to be operational in 2027.
- Xlinks is expected to deliver power at £48/MWh, which is comparable with offshore wind.
- Wikipedia talks of a Hinkley Point C strike price of £92.50/MWh (in 2012 prices).
- Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, is also a personal investor in the project.
- Greg Jackson is interviewed in this article in today’s Sunday Times.
I wrote more about this project in Moroccan Solar-Plus-Wind To Be Linked To GB In ‘Ground-Breaking’ Xlinks Project.
Conclusion
This mega-project could be approaching the point, where the starting gun is fired.
Octopus Energy Chief Greg Jackson Declares London World Leader Of Green Energy Tech As It Wins “Double Unicorn” $2bn Status
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Standard.
This is the sub-title.
CEO declares Britain’s mixture free market and technology skills give green energy tech massive export potential.
These are some points from the article.
- Octopus Energy started five years ago and is now worth $2 billion.
- It supplier 1.7 million homes in the UK, with green energy.
- It has customers in the US and Germany.
- It has its own management software called Kraken.
- Due to Kraken, their costs are 2.5 times lower than rivals.
- Kraken is a fun-for-hire, that is now used by other energy supplier.
The CEO wants a 100 million customers in five years.
We need more companies with this attitude!
The Anonymous Widower 