Big battery anyone?

49 Megawatt of battery storage is huge but now Centrica is going for a 100MW installation in Ireland.

The 49MW battery is being built where an old fossil fuel power plant at Roosecote used to stand and taking advantage of its existing position in the grid.

As more and more money is poring into research and development of larger and more effective means of electricity storage the technology is improving rapidly.

Storage is a crucial component to the renewable energy revolutions since electricity production from renewables it usually intermittent or cyclical and not relatively constant as with fossil fuel generation.

Software is now being brought into the picture to help batteries react quickly to fluctuations in input and output making them far more versatile.

"I think the technology is really moving from being a demonstrator and into the market place. That's become clear. We see the UK rapidly moving towards the commercialisation of batteries. It's no longer a question as to whether they're viable, it's how to best deploy them,”

Philip Hiersemenzel of Younicos said at the start of the 49 MW project, which is expected to be completed in August 2018.

That was about a year ago, now the 100 MW facility is on the planning table.

These are exiting times.

They picked Ireland because:

“The Irish market is being reformed and as part of that reform there is a need for more balancing and ancillary services which should support new batteries. So it's almost where the UK was three or four years ago,” -Chris Read of Centrica