October 16, 2023
StorTera marks 10 years as a world leader in battery storage
Edinburgh-based developer celebrates a decade of pioneering low-cost battery storage
StorTera, an Edinburgh based developer of low-cost battery storage, is celebrating 10 years of pioneering intelligent energy storage solutions.
Directors Pas Pallawela, Gavin Park and Brenda Park, who launched the business from Edinburgh in 2013, have grown StorTera’s team to 17 people while developing the SLiQ, its unique single liquid flow battery.
SLIQ offers flexibility to the grid by storing energy that can then be released to the electricity network at peak times when weather dependent technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels have periods of decreased energy generation.
Over the last decade, StorTera has also developed small and medium scale lithium ion battery systems which are being employed by communities, councils and businesses in the UK, Canada and South Asia. The SLiQ has the potential to be cheaper than lithium ion batteries while also offering a much longer lifetime of up to 30 years.
StorTera was founded in 2013 with a vision of developing the sustainable and low-cost battery technology that will be needed to increase the use of renewable energy and support not only Scotland’s but the UK’s journey towards net-zero.
A busy 10 years has seen StorTera:
- Pioneer its unique single liquid flow battery (SLiQ).
- Develop an energy storage backpack for disaster relief through Innovate UK’s ‘Using energy storage to help climate change victims and stop modern slavery’.
- Develop a bespoke power electronics and software platform, StorAI, to increase the efficiency of battery systems.
- Collaborate with Canadian partner Equilibrium Engineering to win the Power Forward Challenge project for building a pilot smart grid in Nova Scotia in Canada to demonstrate the benefits of intelligent energy storage.
- Have its patent granted for SLiQ.
In 2017, the battery storage specialists provided backup power to an off-grid community in Knoydart, on the west coast of Scotland, for two years, using a first of its kind SLiQ.
In August this year, StorTera launched a pilot smart energy network including the world’s first spiral flow battery prototype for Perth and Kinross Council and is currently developing, with £5 million funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, a large-scale, long duration SLiQ prototype, set to be installed at Midlothian Innovation Centre in 2024As the number of renewables projects continue to grow and Scotland generates more and more renewable energy, StorTera’s long duration energy storage will play a crucial role in supporting the country’s net zero ambitions.
Using its StorHub and StorTower battery products, developed using lithium ferro phosphate technology, StorTera has installed 3MWh of capacity to date, integrated with its exclusive StorAI platform, a bespoke monitoring and control software which increases the efficiency of battery systems using artificial intelligence.
Gavin Park, CEO of StorTera, said: “The last ten years have been nothing short of incredible for StorTera and it has been a real honour to work alongside the amazing talent we have in our team as we develop our unique single liquid flow battery.
“We started StorTera knowing that Scotland has world class resources for producing renewable energy. As we’ve grown our business, more and more clean power is being produced so it is vital that long duration energy storage is available to support the flow of energy to the electricity network at peak times.
“Providing backup energy storage to the off-grid community in Knoydart, installing the world’s first ever smart energy network for Perth and Kinross Council and the work we are doing on long duration battery storage is just the start for StorTera. We are already planning how to revolutionise energy storage in Scotland over the next decade and beyond.”
Featured here in Highgrowth.scot
https://highgrowth.scot/stortera-marks-10-years-as-a-world-leader-in-battery-storage/
Tags: batteries, energy storage, netzero, stortera, ten years