Domestic storage could change design rules for retrofit PV

Northern Powergrid is to investigate whether domestic storage can be used to increase the overall amount of PV installed while avoiding the costly network reinforcement required for large PV installations.

The two-and-a-half-year project will explore how distributed storage can reduce peak PV output, reduce evening peak loading, and mitigate thermal loading and voltage issues from a PV cluster in a local network.

Clusters of distributed PV capacity require regular network reinforcement that can cost up to £60,000 per PV cluster per month.

The Distributed Storage and Solar Study (DS3) project will install 40 energy storage units on two LV feeders fed from a single distribution substation to see what penetration of batteries is needed to make an impact on network reinforcement constraints.

If the project is successful it could potentially save in excess of £12,500,00 over a price control period if implemented, compared to the project budget of £250,000.

The trial in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, will be led by community benefit society Energise Barnsley in conjunction with storage company Moixa, and be funded by Northern Powergrid.

Northern Powergrid also aims to gain a DNO understanding of the Moixa Cloud aggregation platform and how a DNO can interact with it to dynamically manage DNO constraints.

The networks innovation allowance (NIA) project will build on the learning from NIA-funded solaBRISTOL and Innovate UK-funded ERIC projects about the role of distributed storage.

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