The Copwood VFB Energy Hub pairs 20.7 MWh of vanadium flow batteries with a 3 MW solar array, giving East Sussex a blueprint for turning cheap daytime solar into reliable, round the clock power.
The challenge
Britain’s energy security has come under growing pressure as energy prices rise and geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, keep the issue high on the national agenda. A large part of that pressure comes from the country’s continued reliance on imported natural gas to fill the gaps left by variable renewable generation.
The rapid growth of solar and wind power has created a widening mismatch between when renewable electricity is produced and when people actually need it, in the evenings, overnight and during peak demand. Short duration batteries help smooth out brief fluctuations, but they are not designed to shift large volumes of energy across many hours.
At the same time, community concerns about battery fire risk have increasingly complicated local planning processes for large scale storage projects, making safety as much a deployment challenge as a technical one.
The results
Invinity Energy Systems has completed delivery of 20.7 MWh of vanadium flow batteries to the Copwood VFB Energy Hub in Uckfield, East Sussex. Once it enters service later this year, the site will become Europe’s largest vanadium flow battery installation, a UK first at this scale.
The project pairs 90 vanadium flow batteries with a 3 MW solar array. Surplus daytime solar generation is stored and released back to the grid in the evening, overnight and at peak demand, reducing reliance on more expensive gas fired generation. The battery array’s storage capacity is roughly equivalent to the daily electricity needs of around 3,000 homes.
Vanadium flow batteries rely on a water based electrolyte and carry no fire risk, directly addressing the safety concerns that have often slowed down local planning discussions for battery storage. The technology is also engineered for decades of heavy duty cycling, supporting a long operating life.
Jonathan Marren, Chief Executive Officer of Invinity, described the project as evidence that Britain can build the infrastructure needed to become a clean energy leader, and pointed to long duration storage as the missing piece that turns intermittent wind and solar into reliable, on demand power. He also noted that manufacturing the system in Scotland shows how the clean energy transition can strengthen energy security, reduce system costs and create skilled industrial jobs at home.
The Copwood site benefits from investment by the UK’s National Wealth Fund, a major shareholder in Invinity, alongside grant funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero under the government backed Longer Duration Energy Storage demonstration programme. Invinity manufactures its vanadium flow batteries at its facilities in Motherwell and Bathgate, in Scotland’s Central Belt, where the company also carries out product development, customer support and research and development.
The delivery comes at a pivotal moment for the sector, as Ofgem prepares to announce decisions under its Long Duration Energy Storage Cap and Floor scheme. Invinity’s technology has already been selected for multiple project bids under the scheme, and a successful rollout could support significant industrial growth in the UK, including the creation of up to 1,000 jobs as manufacturing scales up.