Weekly News Review - 3rd March 2023
Britishvolt bought by Australian firm Recharge Industries
The UK battery start-up Britishvolt has been bought out of administration by Australian firm Recharge Industries. The company saw off interest from dozens of other potential buyers to agree a £30m deal with administrators EY. The Britishvolt brand name will remain the same but the company intends to focus initially on batteries for energy storage with a target production date of 2025.
Britishvolt was founded in 2019 with the aim of opening a large facility near Blyth in Northumberland to make electric car batteries. Plans for the £3.8bn factory were part of a long-term vision to boost UK manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries and create around 3,000 skilled jobs.
In January, accountancy firm EY said the company had entered administration “due to insufficient equity investment for both the ongoing research it was undertaking and the development of its sites in the Midlands and the north-east of England”. The company had been close to administration at the end of last year following the government’s refusal to advance £30m of a proposed £100m in support as key milestones had been missed.
The deal between Recharge and the administrators was agreed on February 3, however there were delays in completion as the company had difficulty raising funds. They have agreed to buy Britishvolt’s IP, including its prototype battery technology and retain 26 employees. It has also been granted an exclusivity period until the end of March to secure money to buy the start-up’s land.
Administrators, EY, said: “The sale of the business will help to support the development of technology and infrastructure needed for the UK’s energy transition.” While Recharge Industries chief executive David Collard said: “We are thrilled to have been successful in our bid for ownership of Britishvolt.”
First nuclear reactor arrives at Hinkley C power station
The first of two nuclear reactors to be installed by EDF at Hinkley Point C has arrived at the site this week. The 13 meter long, 500 tonne reactor arrived in the UK at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol before travelling by barge to Combwich Wharf in Somerset. The final 4 miles was completed by a transporter and took 5 hours to arrive at its permanent home.
Each reactor will have a capacity of 1.6GW and will generate enough electricity to power three million homes. The reactors are made by French nuclear company Framatome at the same factory that produced the UK’s last nuclear reactors at Sizewell B. The reactor pressure vessel is made of high strength steel and will house the reactor core and all associated components.
Hinkley Point C will be the first new nuclear power station built in the UK in 30 years and is needed to replace the current aging fleet. When construction began in 2016 nuclear capacity in the UK was 8.9GW, however this will have fallen to 3.6GW by the time the project is completed. This is significantly lower than the 12GW of nuclear capacity the country had when Sizewell B opened in 1995.
EDF announced last week that the estimated cost of the project has now risen from the previous forecast of £26bn to £33bn. This is due to the rise in inflation pushing up the price of raw materials and labour. The project was originally due to completed in 2025, however a series of delays have pushed the estimated completion date back to 2027 and have added to financing costs.
Europe’s largest battery storage system opens in East Yorkshire
Harmony Energy have officially opened their 98MW capacity battery energy storage system in Pillswood, East Yorkshire. The system employs a Tesla 2-hour Megapack system enabling up to 196MWh of electricity to be stored in a single cycle. This is enough electricity to power around 300,000 UK homes for two hours and makes it the largest battery storage system in Europe.
The project will provide critical balancing services to the GB electricity grid network whilst also enabling the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. The site is located next to National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation, the same connection point proposed for the first two phases of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank, which is set to go live on the first phase this summer.
Construction of the Pillswood project is estimated to have cost £75m and was originally due to reach completion in March 2023, but the timetable accelerated to enable both phases to energise in November 2022. This allowed the project to support National Grid in its efforts to provide stable and secure power to UK households over the winter period.
Peter Kavanagh, Harmony Energy Limited’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted that our Pillswood Project, Europe’s biggest battery energy storage system, has been officially opened. Battery energy storage systems are essential to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy in the UK, and we hope this particular one highlights Yorkshire as a leader in green energy solutions.”
“It’s also important to add that these projects are not supported by taxpayer subsidy, they will play a major role in contributing to the net zero transition, as well as ensuring the future security of the UK’s energy supply and reduced reliance on foreign gas imports.”
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