Energy Storage for Renewable Power

Date: 22/03/23

Here at Think Hire, we often get questions about the viability of renewable energy. Our customers wonder how solar power, which is only available during daytime, can be used to power assets at night, such as site lighting. A similar issue exists, albeit on a much larger scale, with renewable energy for the national grid. While onshore and offshore wind turbines, combined with solar power arrays, can generate significant power under the right conditions, they supply no energy without wind or daylight.

Storing renewable energy

Since generation and demand rarely line up, we need to find ways to generate power when conditions are right, and then be able to save it for use at a later time. To take full advantage of the renewable energy available to us through solar power and wind turbines, we need to include some form of storage in the system.

One such storage system got a major boost this week, with the announcement that SSE will be investing a further £100m to test the viability of their £1.5bn hydro-electric scheme in Scotland. This system, planned for Coire Glas in the Great Glen, stores energy by pumping water 500m uphill to a huge reservoir.

When renewable energy is cheap and freely available, such as during windy conditions, this energy is used to pump the water to the top reservoir. Then when there is high demand, and renewables are not available, this water can be released downhill to drive turbines and generate power. The designers think the system could power three million homes for up to 24 hours.

Hybrid generators and battery storage 

At Think Hire, we use the same energy storage principles to help you to power your site for less, using clean, solar energy. Our hybrid power hire systems use solar panels to harvest energy from the sun during daylight hours. Any excess energy that isn’t being used on site is then stored in hi-tec batteries ready for use later, when direct solar power is not available.

By storing solar energy in this way, hybrid power hire can provide power overnight, even during the winter months when daylight is limited. For example, thanks to battery storage, our solar site lighting can deliver eight hours of light, seven nights a week during spring summer and autumn, and even provide eight hours of lighting, five nights a week in winter.

Sophisticated storage

The SiteGrid X45 is a good example of the kind of energy storage available through Think Hire hybrid power hire. It can be charged using renewables, but still has the back-up of a traditional diesel generator if required. A sophisticated battery bank within the unit stores this power, ready for instant deployment anytime of the day or night. In addition to the fuel savings and reduced CO2 emissions of battery stored solar power, the SiteGrid also allows for silent power delivery during night-time working, avoiding noise nuisance for neighbouring properties.

Eliminating fossil fuels

Hybrid power hire, and projects like the Coire Glas scheme, are just the beginning of our journey towards a fossil fuel free future, as Keith Bell, Professor of Future Power Systems at Strathclyde University, explains: “We will need a lot more energy storage capacity to eliminate fossil fuels completely,” he says. “(We will need) probably 10 to 50 times greater than the capacity of Coire Glas."

While this green future may still be a long way away on a national scale, with hybrid power hire from Think Hire, you can start to increase your site’s storage capacity right now. Our cutting-edge hybrid technology can help you to exploit all the benefits of solar power, without any risk of running out of energy when you need it.

To find out more about renewable energy storage and hybrid power hire, talk to our team today, and start using daylight to power your nights.

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