Powervault's purpose is to "Be part of the solution to climate change by transforming the way people use energy". Project Puck capitalises on 12 years of innovation and development to bring a new range of products to market that will allow all customers to optimise their energy consumption, reduce their carbon footprint and maximise their return on investment, regardless of whether they already have a battery installed, or purchase new from a different supplier. The project will develop the technology (software, hardware and systems) that enables us to supply integrated battery storage solutions, independent of the hardware, that creates unparalleled value for customers. Powervault's integrated units will be supplied to homes, commercial property and light industrial facilities to enable them to optimise energy usage, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and energy costs.

The UK is making good progress towards 100% ZEV by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement and Net Zero. However, Birmingham University, IET and IEA calculate there will be 30-60m tonnes of waste EV batteries globally by 2040; alarming as US, EU and Australian recycling rates are presently 5%. Battery demand has outpaced recycling, which remains expensive(~£1,000 per typical 350kg battery pack), inflating EV prices and stifling deployment. Powervault is the UK's leading home energy storage provider and created the World's first Second Life Battery Electricity Storage System(SLBESS) with Faraday challenge support; a lower cost and resource efficient solution for the fast-growing home energy storage market worth $17.5bn by 2024(SEI). However installation costs and short warranties remain a barrier. We have identified a technological solution that can eliminate the installation and O&M costs of SLBESS, representing a dramatic departure from BAU that will unlock the mass-market and open previously unavailable sales routes. We propose a 12-month R&D project building on the outputs of previously IUK-funded activities to develop a ground-breaking SLBESS product with mass-market potential, demonstrating a significant value add and providing a mass-market waste EV battery solution to facilitate NetZero and 100% ZEV.

The Government has committed to Net Zero GHG emissions by 2050, but is already off-track to meet its 2020 renewable electricity target(CCC), whereby households account for 40% of emissions. In tandem, households and businesses face increasing energy bills as we electrify transport and heat, with costs of £40bn by 2050 where unmitigated with flexible energy assets. Renewable energy(RE) is constrained by with an inflexible grid unable to handle variable supply, with costly new curtailment measures (£500m) introduced from over-supply during Covid-19\. Finally, figures from Birmingham University, IET and IEA calculate that there will be 30-60m tonnes of waste EV batteries globally by 2040; alarming in regions such as the US, EU and Australia where typical recycling rates are presently 5%. These factors create strong drivers for adoption of domestic Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that i)reduce business and household energy bills by storing solar and low cost electricity ii)support the grid providing extra revenues and system savings iii)utilise second-hand EV batteries and no/negative cost. However, existing BESS have payback periods of ~7yrs, high CAPEX ~£5,000-£7,000, and with battery lifespan/replacement being a key cost concern. Powervault has surveyed its historic pipeline of leads who did not buy BESS: 55% objected on cost, and a further 24% on warrantied-lifetime payback. In turn, uptake in the UK has been low compared to international markets where incentives are available(Germany, Japan, Australia, USA). To meet this need Powervault plans to develop an innovative mass-market BESS solution using second-life EV batteries(SLBESS) and capitalise on closing a resource loop. This project constitutes technical and business model innovation, providing a system that is cashflow positive for customers from day 1 due to i)no upfront cost ii)improved battery lifespan and warranty duration iii)integration of grid services to generate revenue. This innovation addresses the key competition theme: decarbonising energy, business and industry. A zero upfront cost SLBESS solution provides a pathway to mass-market residential energy flexibility, which is critically needed for decarbonising at least cost (BEIS, Element Energy, Imperial College). Other themes the innovation addresses are improving the energy efficiency of our homes and other buildings (by helping homes import electricity at more efficient times as they switch to electric heat and transport) and accelerating the shift to low carbon transport (by reducing grid constraints and recycling costs for EV manufacturers, lowering price).

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The home is being remodelled into a connected and personalised eco-system of services, spanning energy management and distributed generation to appliances, vehicles and climate control (PwC 2017). Powervault, the UK's first provider of cost effective distributed battery energy storage solutions (BESS) to domestic homes, (lowering consumers' electricity bills whilst reducing peak grid demand) wishes to take advantage of this substantial market opportunity through integrating its BESS system into the connected home. Through incorporating cutting-edge digital technologies in the BESS, it is envisaged that Powervault will revolutionise the way energy is generated, used and managed throughout the home, allowing not only for householders to optimise energy management in accordance with the rest of the smart home ecosystem, but to facilitate the generation of additional revenue streams, through demand side response, frequency response and peer to peer trading. This feasibility study seeks to explore the viability and establish the pathway towards taking advantage of the significant market opportunity presented by the connected home (estimated to be £2bn UK market opportunity by 2020), whilst facilitating the UK's transition towards minimal environmental impact of energy consumption (through distributed energy generation/storage), whereby in light of this objective, it is essential that UK homes become smarter.

"Ownership of electric vehicles (EVs) is significantly increasing within the UK with the number of new registrations increasing from 3,500 in 2013 to 107,000 in 2017\. In turn, this will place significant pressure on the demand for charge infrastructure as well as the grid network, whereby it is estimated that by 2025 up to 700,000 electricity users could suffer from blackouts due to the increased pressure on the grid, stemming from EV charging. In turn, Powervault, the UK's first provider of cost effective distributed battery energy storage solutions (BESS) to domestic homes (lowering consumers' electricity bills whilst reducing peak grid demand), and Franklin Energy, a UK based e-mobility charging provider that provides turnkey electric vehicle charging solutions, wish to form a partnership in order to supply the domestic market with truly intelligent charge-posts, which allow the export of energy from the EV to the home/grid by connecting to the BESS. This will have the key advantages of allowing for energy from the EV to be balanced against other sources of supply/demand within the household and reducing a household's reliance on the grid. This project is a feasibility study that seeks to develop technical specifications to allow the integration of a Franklin Energy charge point with Powervault BESS, as well as developing the business case for this offering, which will underpin future development of the concept."

Lithium batteries are central to a number of low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and stationary storage applications, with their load shifting capabilities poised to play a critical role in the dynamic and integrated energy systems of the future. With electric vehicles now generating volume sales (\>1.26m in circulation globally), and the earliest models now approaching end of life, opportunities surrounding secondary applications now merit greater investigation. With high recycling costs, and batteries still retaining 70% capacity post transport application, there are strong economic and environmental reasons to find secondary applications for used lithium batteries. The 18 month Li.2 project, led by UK SME Powervault and supported by consortium partners Loughborough University and G&P Batteries, will investigate the processes involved in recovery and reconfiguration of second life batteries, how these can be scaled to realise maximum efficiencies, and deepen understanding of second life cells to evaluate potential for new service offerings, new product offerings, and build up remanufacturing expertise on a key commodity.

Green Running and Powervault are both fast growing SMEs at the forefront of energy sector innovation, with respective expertise in machine learning based electricity disaggregation and small scale battery storage. For both companies, key customer segments and early adopters include social landlords, community energy groups and local authorities, for whom standard B2C offerings are ill-suited with respect to issues such as tenant fairness. More broadly, despite clear and consistent public approval ratings for renewable energy technologies, only ~5% of the UK population have direct access to these carbon free sources of electricity. This 12 month feasibility study will establish the technical and commercial potential to use innovations in distributed ledger technology to facilitate increased and shared access to low carbon energy sources, and optimum business models for implementing such technologies.

Powervault (PV) aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed electricity storage, lowering consumers’ electricity bills, reducing peak demand and increasing the utilisation of onsite renewable energy. Since inception in 2012, PV have sold >300 of their core domestic product, and built up a number of partnerships with installers, and distributors. With a track record for innovation, and emphasis on creating an affordable, mass market product, PV have received recognition from a number of organistaions; Climate-KIC, Green Angel Syndicate, Nesta, Innovate UK and BusinessGreen, reflected in having secured >£3million in investment to date. The ICSBPS feasibility study will explore options for improved usability of bi-directional power technologies such as energy storage or electric vehicle charging infrastructure. A key emphasis of the project will be on product safety, and whether new electronics innovation can improve usability and safety.

The DESIRE project will explore supply chains that integrate grid demand response services with domestic hot water and battery storage. If successful, the project will open up new supply chains and income streams for markets that can underpin the intergation of large-scale intermittent energy into the grid. Upside Energy has developed a novel, cloud-based, demand response platform which will choreograph a fleet of Mixergy tanks and Powervault home battery systems over the course of the trial. Mixergy have developed a range of innovative electric hot water tanks that have intelligent controls and sensing, so enabling them to communicate with Upside's platform. Powervault's award winning home battery system will enable Upside to provide a bidirectional energy storage service. The objectives of the trial will be: to understand how systemic value from distributed energy storage can incentivise stakeholders to install intelligent tanks & batteries; to quantify the true multi-vector energy storage potential that exists within households; to assess consumer responses; to develop optimal control strategies for integrated battery / hot water tank systems & identify optimum supply

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed electricity storage, lowering consumers’ electricity bills, reducing peak demand and increasing the utilisation of onsite renewable energy. Since 2010 the UK has witnessed a solar revolution, with >820,000 households installing solar photovoltaics. However, due to the supply profile of solar generation (high during the day, low during the evening), and typical household demand (low during the day, high in the evenings), households are generally only able to access ~50% of the clean energy produced on site, and remain reliant on the grid at periods of peak demand (e.g. evenings). Installation of domestic storage typically doubles the amount solar generation used onsite, by charging during the day when solar is plentiful, and discharging during periods of peak demand, reducing customer electricity bills, and pressure on the grid during peak periods. The UK's electricity networks face considerable challenges from decarbonisation - with microgeneration, electric vehicle penetration and renewable heat stressing distribution networks which were not designed to take this load. New technologies such as energy storage and demand side response offer potential solutions through increased load flexibility, and increased system resilience. In 2016 the National Infrastructure Commission predicted these technologies, alongside interconnectors, could help instigate a 'smart power revolution' estimated to worth £8 billion in consumer savings annually by 2030. Domestic storage benefits households and the wider electricity system across all three pillars of the energy trilemma; facilitating greater use of local renewable energy, thereby supporting decarbonisation and security of supply objectives, and providing a cost-effective alternative to unnecessary additional generation and network reinforcements. However, in 2015 only ~1000 systems were installed in the UK, with high upfront cost cited as the main barrier. To address this bottleneck, Powervault has spent 3 years undertaking customer research and technical development devising a solution affordable enough to unlock mass market traction. Having successfully completed an Innovate UK Proof of Concept in April 2016, validating technical feasibility, Powervault believes its supply chain innovation, ‘Second Life Batteries’ (“SLB”) can be a game changer for energy storage economics. To transform this lab-tested alpha device into an optimised and market ready proposition, Powervault now seeks to validate SLB in an end user environment, secure emerging areas of IP and complete technical development. SLB will benefit from the expertise of Powervault’s management team and 4 years’ market activity. To date, Powervault has received support and recognition from many organisations including: Innovate UK; RBS Innovation Gateway; NESTA; National Physical Laboratory and Climate-KIC. In 2014 Powervault set a cleantech crowdfunding record, securing investment in <8 hours on Crowdcube and in 2015 BusinessGreen awarded Powervault 'Innovator of the Year'.

The UK has committed itself to the universal roll out of smart meters - 53million for all homes and small businesses with 3.6million installed so far. An enabler for half hourly billing, smart meters are seen as a precursor to smart tariffs - British Gas launching their Free Time tariff this year, exclusively targeting smart meter customers. Designed to better align end user electricity costs with the marginal cost of procurement, time-variable pricing, be it time of use tariffs, or critical pricing (e.g. France's Tempo Bleu), is driven by the increasing presence of variable renewable generation, e.g. wind, on our energy system. However, relying on consumer behaviour change alone to respond to these price signals would fail to achieve the full potential benefits for the network, and likely entail higher energy bills for consumers. To enable customers to adjust their consumption to realise savings and avoid expensive peak periods, without compromising their lifestyles, requires access to load flexibility, which is intelligently controlled, can achieved optimised outcomes for all stakeholder. The SmartSTOR project will look to investigate the techno-economic opportunity available.

Powervault are a UK leader in cost-effective distributed electricity storage, helping residents maximise their usage of onsite renewable energy, reducing their electricity bills and alleviating strains on the local distribution network. Since inception in 2012 they have sold >250 of their core product, secured partnerships with national distributors and gained recognition from a range of organisations; Nesta, Innovate UK, Climate KIC. Powervault seeks to undertake a 3 month feasibility study evaluating the potential for its innovative Second Life Batteries ("SLB") concept in target international markets. PV proposes a complimentary package of activities designed to more clearly ascertain the opportunity available. Proposed study activities will provide a valuable information base from which to inform export strategy and guide development of an international supply chain.

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed electricity storage, lowering consumers’ electricity bills, reducing peak demand and increasing the utilisation of onsite renewable energy. Since 2010 the UK has witnessed a solar revolution, with >820,000 households installing solar photovoltaics. However, due to the supply profile of solar generation (high during the day, low during the evening), and typical household demand (low during the day, high in the evenings), households are generally only able to access ~50% of the clean energy produced on site, and remain reliant on the grid at periods of peak demand (e.g. evenings). Installation of domestic storage typically doubles the amount solar generation used onsite, by charging during the day when solar is plentiful, and discharging during periods of peak demand, reducing customer electricity bills, and pressure on the grid during peak periods. The UK's electricity networks face considerable challenges from decarbonisation - with microgeneration, electric vehicle penetration and renewable heat stressing distribution networks which were not designed to take this load. New technologies such as energy storage and demand side response offer potential solutions through increased load flexibility, and increased system resilience. In 2016 the National Infrastructure Commission predicted these technologies, alongside interconnectors, could help instigate a 'smart power revolution' estimated to worth £8 billion in consumer savings annually by 2030. Domestic storage benefits households and the wider electricity system across all three pillars of the energy trilemma; facilitating greater use of local renewable energy, thereby supporting decarbonisation and security of supply objectives, and providing a cost-effective alternative to unnecessary additional generation and network reinforcements. However, in 2015 only ~1000 systems were installed in the UK, with high upfront cost cited as the main barrier. To address this bottleneck, Powervault has spent 3 years undertaking customer research and technical development devising a solution affordable enough to unlock mass market traction. Having successfully completed an Innovate UK Proof of Concept in April 2016, validating technical feasibility, Powervault believes its supply chain innovation, ‘Second Life Batteries’ (“SLB”) can be a game changer for energy storage economics. To transform this lab-tested alpha device into an optimised and market ready proposition, Powervault now seeks to validate SLB in an end user environment, secure emerging areas of IP and complete technical development. SLB will benefit from the expertise of Powervault’s management team and 4 years’ market activity. To date, Powervault has received support and recognition from many organisations including: Innovate UK; RBS Innovation Gateway; NESTA; National Physical Laboratory and Climate-KIC. In 2014 Powervault set a cleantech crowdfunding record, securing investment in <8 hours on Crowdcube and in 2015 BusinessGreen awarded Powervault 'Innovator of the Year'.

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed energy storage solutions to domestic homes and SMEs, lowering consumers’ electricity bills whilst reducing peak grid electricity demand. The Powervault device can accommodate most battery storage technologies. Our background IP, for which we have patent applications in process, lies in the control and integration elements of the storage device and in its interface with the existing household electrical system. The device stores low cost electricity generated by solar panels during the day, then releases the stored energy during the evening when household demand peaks. Electricity network operators can remotely control the device via existing household Wi-Fi links ultimately allowing additional benefits to be derived from grid services. The UK's electricity networks face considerable challenges from decarbonisation - with microgeneration, electric vehicle penetration and renewable heat stressing distribution networks which were not designed to take this load. New technologies such as energy storage and demand side response offer potential solutions. Powervault has received support and recognition from many organisations: Technology Strategy Board; Shell Springboard; Royal Bank of Scotland Innovation Gateway; Prince's Trust; NESTA; National Physical Laboratory and Climate-KIC. Powervault recently set a record in cleantech crowdfunding, securing new investment in just eight hours on Crowdcube. Our core storage product has been developed and tested. This "proof of concept" project aims to evaluate the potential benefits of using second hand batteries in the Powervault system.

Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed energy storage solutions to domestic homes and SMEs, lowering consumers’ electricity bills whilst reducing peak grid electricity demand. The Powervault device does not depend on a single battery storage technology or proprietary component. Our background IP, for which we have patent applications in process, lies in the control and integration elements of the storage device and in its interface with the existing household electrical system. This project will design an improved power monitoring device.

Following a successful ‘Proof of Market’ study undertaken with support from the Technology Strategy Board’s SMART Scheme, a limited company, PowerVault Ltd, has been formed to commercially exploit the novel energy storage technology. Powervault aims to be the UK’s first specialist provider of cost-effective distributed energy storage solutions to domestic homes and SMEs, lowering consumers’ electricity bills whilst reducing peak grid electricity demand. The Powervault device is designed to work with most battery storage technologies. Our background IP, for which we have patent applications in process, lies in the control and integration elements of the storage device and in its interface with the existing household electrical system. The device allows consumers to benefit from low demand/marginal prices thereby delivering lower average tariffs to the individual household. The device is capable of remote dispatch via existing household Wi-Fi links; ultimately allowing additional benefits to be derived from grid services. The primary objective of the Proof of Concept project is to demonstrate the technical performance and economic benefits of the “Alpha” device. This will address a number of questions raised during the ‘Proof of Market’ study on actual performance in the domestic environment. These include the perceived technical and commercial limitations of small scale storage devices, consumer acceptance of a novel technology, and the applicability across a range of household demand profiles. Up to 20 of the devices will be deployed, primarily within properties with solar PV installed. We will conduct base-lining, usage monitoring and behavioural analysis to identify direct benefits to the householder. Overall, this Proof of Concept project will provide a showcase for the operation of distributed energy storage and help establish a UK based company which will facilitate the electricity grid to absorb greater quantities of intermittent renewable energy.

This project will investigate the potential to use expired batteries from electric cars as the energy storage batteries of a stationary electrical energy storage device.