Green energy milestone at Waterside

The Waterside Battery project at Swindon Borough Council's Waterside Innovation Hub has been commissioned.

Public Power Solutions (PPS) and the council jointly announced the development.

The Waterside Battery project is a 500kW/832kWh lithium-ion battery co-located with Swindon’s Household Waste Recycling Centre at Waterside Park, and connected to the High Voltage distribution network. 

Waterside Park is already powered by the 2.5MWp Barnfield solar array and is becoming the EV hub of SBC’s vehicle fleet. The site also includes 16 electric vehicle chargers which were commissioned earlier this year. 

Integrating the battery into the existing power system, the council says, will help reduce electricity costs on site by storing excess electricity from the solar farm, for use at other times of the day when the sun is not shining. 

PPS, which is owned by SBC, developed and managed the battery project, obtaining the grid connection, planning consent and procurement of key suppliers through their public sector compliant Dynamic Purchase System.

Cllr Keith Williams, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Finance and Commercialisation, said: “Harnessing renewable energy forms a key part of the Council’s commitment to get greenhouse gas emissions from our operations to net zero by 2030. 

“Our depot and the recycling centre at Waterside Park is already partially powered by renewable energy from our nearby solar park at Barnfield. But now the newly installed battery will store electricity for use at other times of the day when the sun isn’t shining. 

“It will also power 16 charging points installed at Waterside earlier this year, to support the existing 27 EV’s in the Council’s fleet and those that follow.” 

Steve Cains, Director of Power Solutions for PPS, said: “Installing battery storage next to the solar array which is helping to power the Recycling Centre and electric vehicle chargers shows how different green technologies can work together in harmony to enable council services run more efficiently and sustainably.

“The Waterside Innovation Hub is an exemplar of green infrastructure demonstrating that the public sector can follow Swindon’s lead in the shift to a low carbon economy.”

The project has been funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund.

A second battery project on the site was announced last month in partnership with Zenobe. The Zenobe battery is a standalone project which will be connected directly into the electricity grid, and is expected to be completed in early 2023.