June 4, 2020: A lead-lithium hybrid storage trial pilot is set to move to battery procurement shortly for a project at Portsmouth International Port in southern England, Sarah Johnson, a spokesperson for the coordinator Marine South East told BESB at the end of May.

The two-year project, known as PESO (Port Energy Systems Optimization) is being co-funded by Innovate UK which is a public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the government.

Marine South East is working with Swanbarton, a UK consultancy and Energy Systems Catapult, a not-for-profit firm set up and managed by Innovate UK that aims to bridge the gap between industry, government, academia and research.

The storage pilot battery has been sized in kW and kWh to validate the concept. If the trial proves successful and is commercially viable, the results of the project will inform future decisions on the power (MW) and energy rating (MWh) for follow-on installations.

The intention would be to use the modularity of the system to expand it to a larger scale at Portsmouth. It would also serve as a template that could be expanded to other UK ports.

“Three main areas of innovation will be explored in the PESO pilot; the design and construction of novel dual-chemistry battery technology to meet the port requirements; advanced management software to optimize onsite energy generation and storage and the development of smart port grid infrastructure,” says Marine South East.

“The battery vendor has been prequalified and selected and we expect the contract to be confirmed soon.”

The storage system and the integration of artificial intelligence in it is being developed by Anthony Price, the head of Swanbarton. “The lithium battery part of the system will do the rapid charging and discharging needed to keep the microgrid stable. The lead battery will provide long duration power,” he says.

“One advantage of the combination of the two is that of minimizing expense,” he says. “Despite the price falls we have seen in recent years for lithium batteries, they are still more expensive than lead. The combination of the two and the AI protocols we are introducing will reduce the cost of energy management.”

In addition to the energy efficiency aspect to the project there are environmental benefits too — this is important in that the shipping industry has often been accused as being more polluting than aviation. The electrification of ports would be one step towards cleaning the industry up.

The removal of a large amount of fossil fuels — electric vehicles in the port area will be powered by the system — will also help decarbonize the port.

Mike Sellers, port director at Portsmouth International Port said: “As a port that is owned by the people of Portsmouth, we are committed to take bold action to meet our goal to be the UK’s first zero emission port. This innovative project will enable the port to maximize the amount of renewable energy it can produce and use for its own operations including powering electric vehicles to replace diesel and reduce emissions.

“This initiative has the potential to have significant benefits for the port, and could also provide a solution to smart energy use that can be shared with the wider port industry.”

Swanbarton is also working in a consortium with Marine South East, naval architecture firm Houlder and Lloyd’s Register, the international shipping risk assessment and certification firm, on another project called FLO-MAR. This has successfully attracted funding from MarRI-UK’s Clean Maritime Call to assess the feasibility of using flow batteries in vessels to enable zero-emission marine propulsion and auxiliary power.

The project is to investigate how the design of electric and hybrid ships, from ferries through to tugs and wind farm vessels, can be optimized to accommodate flow batteries and to assess the advantages this technology offers in comparison with lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel-cells.

Flow batteries have the potential to offer faster charging in port — simply pumping out the used electrolyte and pumping in the charged electrolyte — coupled with potentially cost-effective, high-capacity storage. To date they have not yet been configured for marine applications.

The FLO-MAR project will select the vessel types and operating situations most suitable for flow batteries and will develop an outline vessel design to validate the advantages offered by this battery type.

Reprinted from:https://www.batteriesinternational.com/2020/06/04/lead-lithium-hybrid-explored-in-uk-port-project/(If there is any infringement liability, please inform us in time, we will delete the content immediately, thank you.)