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Shetland energy storage project with Yuasa batteries shortlisted for prestigious award

Yuasa Battery Sales (UK) Ltd would like to congratulate electrical contractor Thamesgate Group on being chosen as an Electrical Industry Awards finalist for a prestigious energy storage system built with Yuasa.

London-based Thamesgate received their nomination for the Project of The Year award for a ground-breaking energy storage facility they installed with Yuasa for S&C Electric Europe Ltd. The facility was built on Shetland, one of the UK’s most remote islands, in 2013 and is one of the world’s largest lead-acid battery installations.

Due to its distant location, Shetland is the only place in the UK which is not fully connected to the National Grid. The islands’ power is supplied from renewable sources such as off-shore wind farms, and also the gas-powered Lerwick Power Station.

Yuasa Energy Storage Facility at Lerwick on the Shetland Islands

The energy storage facility uses Yuasa Valve Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA) batteries to store the surplus energy produced. At peak demand, it puts this power back into the electricity supply preventing the need to increase production at the power station. This significantly reduces the amount of CO2 produced by the gas turbines.

Working closely with Thamesgate, Yuasa designed the system, supported all parties involved in the project and controlled logistics, which included delivery of the batteries to the island in containers directly from Japan. Furthermore, Yuasa engineers now carry out maintenance twice a year as part of the system’s warranty agreement.

Built using over 3,188 Yuasa SLE VRLA batteries configured in 132 open racks, the enormous system’s remote location presented a number of design and instillation challenges. Work began in October 2013 with a three month installation window allowed during one of the UK’s worst storm periods in recent memory.

Yuasa Energy Storage Facility at Lerwick on the Shetland Islands

The Electrical Industry Awards evening was held on Thursday 29 October at London’s Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. The annual awards, which have been running since 1992, are an opportunity to showcase innovations, highlight achievements and provide information on high profile projects.

On the night Thamesgate just missed out to ABB Tata Steel who saved 7,400Mwh with their DriveSave Scheme. However with such strong competition within the sector, to be shortlisted as a finalist is a real achievement in itself.

Mark Greer, General Manager of Yuasa Battery Sales (UK) Ltd’s Reserve and Renewable Energy Division said : “We are delighted that Thamesgate were nominated for such a prestigious award, and only just missed out on the night.

The scale and remoteness of the project presented some real challenges. Thamesgate’s innovation and professionalism meant that we were able to overcome these together and deliver a ground breaking system on time and on budget.

This was one of the largest systems we have worked on and there were a number of important firsts for us. To successfully design, build and deliver a system on this scale, given nature of the project and huge logistical tasks, has been a real positive for both us and Thamesgate.. We are now looking forward to playing a major role in future projects of this type.”

Yuasa Energy Storage Facility at Lerwick on the Shetland Islands

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