Government grant to develop energy storage technologies
Dr Richard Wills has been successful in a Government initiative to encourage entrepreneurs to help bring a range of new and innovative low carbon products to market. The £500,500 award will support research into improving flow batteries – potentially important in power generation/distribution to store energy from renewable sources.
C-Tech Innovation of Capenhurst, Cheshire was the lead bidder on Southampton's entry for the Energy Storage challenge organised by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The University of Warwick was also a partner.
The soluble lead flow battery was invented at Southampton ten years ago. This grant will be used by the collaborators to build an advanced prototype to develop and test the technology at the multi-kW scale.
"Energy storage is becoming essential in power distribution networks to store renewable energy and act as a buffer to match supply with demand" explains Richard. "Wind turbines and solar panels do not generate energy all the time so we need to capture the energy when it is being generated and store it safely and efficiently so we can use it at other times."
Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker adds: "This new investment will give these organisations the boost they need to drive forward the development of a range of innovative low carbon designs, helping cut costs and bring new technologies to market in this sector."