Scottish Water has installed its first large-scale battery storage system at its Perth wastewater treatment site to retain energy generated from its solar panel array.
The batteries and solar panels are part of a £2 million scheme to cut the sewage plant’s carbon footprint by around 160 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The 312kW battery system is comprised of four vanadium redox flow batteries manufactured Invinity Energy Systems with a combined storage capacity of 0.8MWh. They are connected 2,520 solar panels with a maximum output of more than 1MW.
Scottish Water Horizons, the water company’s commercial arm, oversaw the investment and is exploring opportunities to include more battery storage across the organisation’s asset portfolio.
Business development manager, Donald MacBrayne, said: “By harnessing this technology, we now have a much wider opportunity to install renewables schemes that were previously unviable due to grid constraints. It’s a massive step forward for us and will form an integral part of how we cut our emissions in the coming years.”
With the batteries, Scottish Water will be able to use around 94% of the energy generated on-site, including by powering rapid electric vehicle charging points installed there.
The company has committed to reducing its carbon emissions to net zero by 2040 to align itself with Scotland’s national target of 2045 and is embracing renewable energy together with storage to reach that goal.
It has an interim target to host or self-generate three times its annual electricity consumption by 2030.