Batteries key to a lower cost, lower carbon energy market

Commenting on Business Secretary Greg Clark’s support for energy storage technologies today, James Court, head of policy and external affairs at the Renewable Energy Association said: “The global market is quickly moving towards a decentralised model, relying less on large fossil generation and more on flexible and increasingly cheap renewable sources. More energy storage empowers this and will lead to a lower cost, lower carbon energy system that will benefit households and businesses across the country.
“The launch of a battery institute will help guide next-generation storage technologies through the hazards that lay between a good idea in a lab and actual deployment in homes and on solar farms.
“The UK is among the global leaders for battery technology, but for the handbrakes to be taken off we need to see the rules and regulations made in a different age updated for these new technologies and approaches, coupled with a renewed commitment to renewables.
“The market is changing quickly, yet reversals in policy have seen the UK slowing in areas such as solar and onshore wind which are now cheaper than fossil fuels. The government needs to remember that the success of batteries, renewables and smart technologies are all interlinked.”