By Anthony Ainsworth, Chief Operating Officer (COO), npower Business Solutions (nBS)

Last year, we conducted our Business Energy Tracker for the first time to understand the impact of the energy market and policy decisions on businesses’ attitudes to energy, risk and their potential investment plans. The results showed that more than three quarters (77%) of businesses felt that energy was their top risk.

Since then, the volatile wholesale energy market has continued to bring uncertainty and high costs to UK businesses. Gloomy forecasts resulted in an unprecedented intervention from the government in the form of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) to help businesses navigate the winter.

However, with the EBRS being replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) on 1 April 2023, which is a lower form of support for most businesses, in this year’s Business Energy Tracker, we wanted to take the pulse of whether confidence will continue to be affected.

This in-depth piece of research, produced with support from the Major Energy Users Council (MEUC) and Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), gathers the voices of over 100 large UK organisations.

The results reveal that energy remains the top concern for businesses for the second year running, and is a board-level concern for 91% of the organisations we spoke to, up from 80% in 2022.

What is the impact on business confidence?

One major finding from the report is that the energy crisis is impacting businesses’ ability to plan for the long-term, with just one in six saying they are only able to plan for the next 6-12 months.

That said, the findings also highlight that businesses are aware of the benefits of investing in net zero initiatives, with almost two thirds of respondents making sustainability their top investment priority in 2023.

However, for businesses to have the confidence to invest and press ahead with their sustainability plans, the right policy must be in place.

Does policy need to change? 

With the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) being split into four new sector-focused entities, including the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), we wanted to find out if the initiatives brought into force over the past year have had a positive impact.

The EBRS has been a real help to more than one third (37%) of our respondents. However, 67% don’t believe that the EBDS will go far enough to support them, and nearly one in five (19%) believe that the government should keep the EBRS until March 2024, despite the cost to the economy in doing so.

That said, when it comes to what they would like to see from the government, one interesting finding is that businesses would welcome more than just reductions in their energy invoices. Three quarters (75%) of respondents would like to receive incentives to reduce their overall power demand through energy efficiency initiatives, while 60% would like more support in switching from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives.

Being the voice of business

At nBS, we are committed to ensuring that the voice of business is heard at the highest level. The insight from the Business Energy Tracker will give us the opportunity to present the findings to the government, as well as other influential stakeholders. If businesses are supported to increase energy efficiency and reduce demand, it will benefit the whole of the UK.

You can download your copy of the Business Energy Tracker 2023 report here.

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From digital twins to improving battery recycling and next generation battery materials
17 projects announced yesterday will support innovation in propulsion battery technologies for Britain’s EVs.

They will share £27.6 million in funding, delivered by Innovate UK, Britain’s quasi-independent dispenser of public cash for research in science & engineering.

The projects aim to enable UK competitiveness across the battery value chain by:

• building and securing a home-focused supply chain
• improving battery performance, at lower cost
• developing globally competitive manufacturing processes
• upping the sustainability of batteries

High performance

OXLiD is leading researchers exploring lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, a promising storage technology for applications where high performance, lightweight batteries are needed, such as aeroplanes.

Focusing on the development of quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries the project has the potential to significantly improve the:

• number of times Li-S batteries can be cycled before they reach their end of life
• amount of energy Li-S batteries can store per unit volume
• temperature range over which Li-S batteries can operate

 In ultra-fast charging the EXtrAPower project led by Nyobolt aims to bring to market a commercially viable technology.  Its batteries could slash charging EV times from hours to minutes.

With EV ownership increasing, the trend could lead to more than 11 million tons of battery waste annually by 2030, enough to fill Wembley Stadium almost 20 times every year, the award’s organisers calculate.

Recycling this mountain of waste can be avoided by taking a circular economy approach, such as being developed by Altilium Metals. Through the CAM-EV project, the Devonshire-based concern is exploring how to recover the critical metals from old EV batteries, ready to process them in new units.

Tony Harper, challenge director for the Faraday Battery Challenge, said “As we move towards a net zero future the UK’s electric vehicle industry must continue to evolve.

“These winning projects have all shown how their ideas can potentially accelerate the development of technologies or business practices in the UK”.

Nusrat Ghani MP, minister for industry and investment security said:  “Efficient and reliable batteries are the key to powering new, green industries that will create jobs and enable our UK-made transition to net zero – from our world-leading renewables industry to our growing electric vehicle sector.

This government is providing record funding for the Faraday Battery Challenge, unlocking industry investment in projects like these that build our competitive edge in these vitally important technologies.

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Recent investments include £750 million in Scotland to progress 1GW of projects in contracts with the National Grid Electricity System Operator, dedicated to securing Britain’s grid as one of the world’s greenest.

Now the British company has agreed terms for its American foray with the US offshoot of JERA, producer of around 30% of Japan’s electricity, and a joint venture between TEPCO Fuel and Power and Chubu Electric Power.

A memo of understanding pledges the Anglo-Japanese partnership to develop jointly utility-scale, grid-connected, standalone and hybrid battery storage projects in New York and New England, easing uptake of renewables in these hubs.

JERA recently announced a joint venture with Uniper to accelerate the production and supply of zero-carbon fuels in the US.  The company has recently acquired thermal power generating facilities at two sites in New England, which they intend as a spring board to renewable energy development.

America currently sources only 20% of its electricity from intermittent renewables. The nation’s attractiveness to overseas energy investors – and storage developers in particular – leapt in August, with the passing into law of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.  This, some analysts believe, necessitates a 40% cut in US carbon emissions this decade alone.

Battery storage plays a vital role in the transition to renewable energy systems as it can provide grid stability and flexibility, storing energy in the face of intermittent generation and releasing it when needed.

Zenobē’s co-founder James Basden said:

“The company is transforming the uptake of clean power across the UK and abroad, and we’re proud to be extending this work into the United States.

“In a country that consumes almost a third of the world’s energy and is increasing its renewable capacity, the need for greater energy security and flexibility has never been clearer. We’re excited to start working with JERA to facilitate the transition to renewables in the US.”

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Besides road traffic, magnetisable concrete would enable warehouse and industrial floors to be adapted for in-use charging of fork-lift trucks and independent materials-handling equipment.

Purdue University in the US has begun technical trials for the innovators’ technology.

Edelio Bermejo, head of the Swiss company’s global innovation centre, commented: “At Holcim we are innovating to put concrete at the centre of our world’s transition to net-zero.

“With Magment, we are excited to be developing concrete solutions to accelerate electric mobility. Partnering with start-ups all over the world, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to lead the way in sustainability.”

“Rolling re-charge” is seen by manufacturers and operators of EVs as the ultimate antidote to ‘range anxiety’, counter-acting motorists’ lingering fears about lost time and productivity.

Commercial fleets are likely to be early adopters.  Waitrose will this year begin trials in St Katharine’s Dock, London of wireless charging of its delivery vans on urban routes.  The supermarket chain’s chosen technology, supplied by partner Flexible Power Systems, is based on a scaled up version of mobile phone wireless charging.  Vans are equipped with a charging pad, and in Waitrose’s example need to be stationary above a current transfer electrode.

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From its plant at Roche, near St Austell, the integrated miner-processor intends stepping output up from a trial 5 kilogrammes per day at present, to 21,000 tonnes each year.   That target could be reached in five years, the firm believes.

The miner’s efforts are believed to be the first successful extraction of lithium carbonate in potentially commercial quantities from mica in granite.

Funded by Innovate UK, the Roche plant took seven months to build. Its design drew on four years of research.

All production stages are integrated on site.  From quarrying, crushing and grinding the ore, these range to custom-built electric calcination at low temperatures, acid-free leaching and multiple purification steps, including ion-exchange.

All UK car manufacturing will convert to electric vehicles by 2030. Lithium carbonate is a key component in the batteries required to power them.

“New processes are normally piloted during the definitive feasibility stage”, said British Lithium’s chief executive Andrew Smith.

“But, as lithium has never been produced commercially from mica before, de-risking our proprietary technology is an important step in developing our project”.

“Doing it now allows us to operate in real world conditions using actual site water and locally sourced commercial reagents.

“We’re delighted with the rapid progress we’ve made”, Smith went on, “but there’s still a long road ahead in terms of refining and optimising the process”.

British Lithium chair Roderick Smith added: “At the moment, we will be the only lithium producer in the world to be quarrying and refining on one site, which adds to the sustainability of the project.”

Chile tops the world’s lithium reserves with 9.2 million tonnes, ahead of Australia on 4.7 million tonnes.  Tesla plans to source lithium from the desert 150 miles from its gigafactory in Nevada.

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The world’s biggest continuously operating grid-scale ultracapacitor has been connected at a switching point in Teesside’s clean energy hub into NG-ESO operations.  It has been created by Spanish engineers Ingeteam in collaboration with Anglo-Finnish firm Reactive.

As part of Reactive’s flagship GridMetrix data analytics engine, the measurement system enables the ESO to substitute accuracy for estimates when obtaining instantaneous data on point-to-point power flows.  The benefit to controllers is a step change upwards in managing grid stability.

The ultracapacitor is designed to send pulses of power through the grid, much as the underwater sound waves used in sonar, enabling Britain’s ESO to measure system stability more accurately.

Once live, NG-ESO will enjoy a greatly enhanced view in real time of frequency stabilising inertia.

With grids transitioning from centralised generation into smart, distributed energy, system-stabilising technologies are increasingly needed to provide instantaneous data for management purposes.

The service will help ESO to improve the efficiency and value to consumers of grid balancing actions, marking a key step towards its ambition to operate a 100% zero carbon electricity system by 2025.

On Teesside, the ultracapacitor sits only a few miles along the coast from where cables from the world’s largest offshore wind farm, SSE’s 3.6 GW Dogger Bank will land, providing power for five million homes.

Reactive has sales offices in London and engineering units in Oulu, Finland.  2021 has been a transformational year. The firm has closed a record fundraising round from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the Bill Gates-backed clean energy fund, from BGP and from Eaton.

Reactive Technologies’ CEO Marc Borrett, (right) commented,  “Adoption of GridMetrix® by National Grid is a significant milestone in the journey of our technology from a conceptual innovation to a proven and fundamental grid management solution”.

“The challenges facing Britain on its net zero journey are familiar to grids across the world.  We are extremely excited to help unlock as many 100% renewable grids around the world as possible, accelerating the global transition to a clean energy system.”

For National Grid ESO its executive director Fintan Slye added:  “Our ambition to be able to operate an electricity system that can deliver periods of 100% zero carbon power by 2025 is a stretching target.  But thanks to cutting-edge technologies such as (Reactive’s), we’re on track to achieve a significant milestone on that zero carbon journey”.

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