ABSTRACT
The British electricity grid was mostly constructed in the 1960s and 1970s before the present era of decarbonisation and was engineered imagining power flowing in one direction: from large power stations down to homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. Electrical energy storage is a group of technologies which are used to contain electricity before it needs to be used. Community energy groups can use batteries to provide an alternative to grid electricity. Electrical energy storage is most valuable when a single installation is used to provide more than one service to customers and utilities. One of the oldest forms of storing electricity is pumped storage. In some countries, including the UK, controlling when hot water tanks heat up is a means of adding flexibility to the electricity system. Stores of coal and gas have always been used as a high-carbon means of holding sufficient energy to run the British electricity system for days or months at a time.
