Working with the National Innovation Centre for Data, Connected Energy have embedded new data science skills into their organisation, helping to deliver more efficient battery storage for their customers. As a business their data accumulation was rising rapidly, with systems currently producing around 7 million data points every day from second life Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries. They quickly realised that they needed to take data analysis to the next level to predict future capacities and optimise their outputs.
Based on Newcastle Helix, Connected Energy are second-life battery energy storage specialists and have systems across both the UK and Europe. They repurpose second-life electric vehicle batteries to applications such as energy storage. This can allow the transition to more sustainable, but less reliable power generation methods such as wind or solar by storing the excess generated energy and discharging the batteries when solar or wind generation is low.
NICD used their platforms and technologies to explore this data and transfer data science skills into their organisation. They helped them to validate data from battery systems and into the format they needed, helping to gain a clear picture of the data to understand what was missing and develop accurate predictions. They worked together to visualise, explore, and build models to estimate the remaining lifetime of the batteries.
Steve Caughey, Director from The National Innovation Centre for Data said: “As Newcastle Helix neighbours, Connected Energy quickly recognised the value data science skills and insights could bring to their business. They have joined the global data revolution and are leading the way with clean tech innovation – a forward-thinking organisation who are supporting both the circular economy and businesses with their sustainable goals.
Properly processed and analysed, data can lead to radical innovations creating significant value, providing evidence for actions and interventions whether for economic, health or for social good. We can’t wait to embark on the next stage of this project and see them grow.”
Matthew Lumsden, CEO, Connected Energy Limited said: “When you build a business it’s important to recognise what skills you need in-house to create value. We recognised that being able to capitalise on the data we have available would be key to maintaining our competitive edge and so needed a flexible partnership to help us learn and build capability.
NICD quickly became part of our team and have been invaluable in helping us to unlock the power of big data. As an organisation we are looking to expand globally, support businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and shape battery technology the expertise of NICD and their team has been invaluable in helping us achieve our goals. New techniques and models are now being embedded and we hope to expand our own team of data scientists soon.
