"Think of battery manufacturing and it may evoke images of Elon Musk and Tesla's sprawling gigafactories around the globe, or China's vast, hi-tech clean rooms churning out cells to go in anything from electric toothbrushes to mobile phones and cars. But at Invinity Energy Systems's small factory in Bathgate, near Edinburgh, workers slotting parts together are hoping that Britain can also play a part in the battery revolution."
"These batteries, which rely on vanadium ions, are put in 6-metre (20ft), 25-tonne shipping containers. They will not go into cars, but the manufacturer hopes the technology can win a place in a global rush into storage to usher in the shift to net zero carbon grids. Renewable electricity is the future of the global energy system: cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels."
Workers at Invinity's Bathgate factory assemble vanadium-ion batteries in 6-metre, 25-tonne shipping containers intended for stationary grid storage rather than vehicles. Vanadium redox flow batteries provide long-duration, scalable storage that time-shifts renewable generation, storing electricity during surpluses for use at peak demand. Renewable electricity is cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels but is weather-dependent, so storage is required to maintain reliable electricity grids. Increased political attention to grid reliability after major blackouts in Spain and Portugal highlights how battery storage can help avoid similar disruptions and enable broader renewable deployment toward net-zero carbon grids.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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