Newcastle-based Connected Energy was announced yesterday as one of the winners of the PLMA Technology Pioneer award for its recent second-life energy storage project in Belgium.
The E-STOR system, installed at the Umicore industrial site in Belgium, uses Renault batteries which previously powered Kangoo vehicles in France. Their second life as part of a static energy storage solution is expected to give another seven years when the value of the embedded resources can be further utilised.
The award, which will formally be presented during the 41st PLMA Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, recognizes industry leaders who created, during the last year, innovative ideas, methods, programs, and technologies that manage end use loads to meet peak load needs and support successful grid integration of distributed energy resources.
Connected Energy specialises in developing energy storage solutions that use electric vehicle batteries which have ended their traditional first life–the 48 batteries in the award-winning E-STOR have a combined energy storage capacity of 720 kWh and can deliver 1.2 MW in power. The Belgian system provides revenue generation and power quality management for global materials technology and recycling group Umicore, who also recycle EV batteries.
“We’re delighted with this new award win,” said Mark Bailey, Connected Energy CCO. “Being recognised by our peers is always an honour and to be able to showcase our innovative solutions to the US market is great. If we can encourage more firms to look more into the circular economy and find new ways to maximise value from already extracted natural resources, then we’re really pleased.”
The award win follows swiftly on the back of Connected Energy being awarded the SME Innovation Award from the Northeast Automotive Alliance in February. That award recognised the company that successfully developed innovation which has had the greatest impact on an organisation or market sector.
The firm is on a high after announcing a recruitment drive in January on the back of a £5 million investment in 2019, being named as one of the UK’s fastest growing businesses by SyndicateRoom and independent research agency Beauhurst in December and being presented with a Japan Energy Challenge award at a ceremony in Japan in October.
