How millions of connected batteries could unleash renewables

Renewable energy generation is expanding fast.

According to this European Commission report, by 2030 renewables such as solar and wind power are expected to account for 69% of electricity in the EU and 80% by 2050.

However, adapting infrastructure to integrate these intermittent and unpredictable energy sources will require an enormous expansion in energy storage capacity to smooth out supply and demand.

Distributed energy storage

Large, centralised storage facilities will play their part, but harnessing the growing number of distributed small-scale battery storage systems operated by consumers and businesses will also be vital.

Europe’s newly installed battery storage capacity is now almost doubling every year and there are multiple factors behind this expansion.

Harnessing the benefits

Apart from helping stabilize national electricity grids, battery storage also provides greater energy flexibility for businesses and residences.

In a practice known as ‘peak shaving’, businesses – including EV charging stations – can reduce their use of grid electricity when demand and prices are high by using battery-stored energy instead.

Households and communities can also use batteries, including those in their EVs, to store energy for use when demand and prices are high. And those with renewable generators like solar panels can store excess energy and earn income or credits by selling it back to the grid.

However, none of these applications work without reliable real-time communication between battery storage systems and the grid.

The advantages of cellular

When it comes to serving potentially millions of battery users, cellular 4G and 5G can serve the same use cases as optical fibre, with fast and reliable connectivity, but without the environmental disruption and expense of laying new cabling.

With its automatic encryption and SIM authentication, cellular data transfer also has built-in security that doesn’t depend on customers establishing and maintaining a secure password.

Furthermore, cellular-enabled microgrids make peer-to-peer energy trading possible allowing consumers to buy and sell excess electricity directly with each other.

Why Vodafone

With tens of millions of energy applications already under management for utilities and the largest roaming network of any mobile network operator, Vodafone has the experience and reach to help you implement the right choice.