REPOWERBalcombe installs battery storage system at Turners Hill school

Turners Hill School, near East Grinstead, East Sussex, has recently installed 12kWh of battery storage to capture much of the spare electricity generated by the various renewable energy systems at the school.

A grant of £16,158 to install the battery system was provided from REPOWERBalcombe’s Community Benefit fund. REPOWERBalcombe has already installed most of the solar panels on the roof of Turners Hill School.

The majority of the school’s electricity is generated onsite, and can now be used at any time of day. On the best days the school will need no electricity from the national grid.

Based on current data, the batteries will even store some solar electricity in December, the darkest month of the year.

The electricity provided by REPOWERBalcombe’s panels is already supplied at a 70% discount from normal prices. The savings to the school’s electricity bill will be even greater once the batteries are installed.

The battery system is manufactured by Sonnen Batterie GmbH, a German company that also makes and sells battery systems in the US.

Turners Hill School is the first school in the UK to install a Sonnen battery system.

This project is part of a trial by UK Power Networks to see how small scale battery storage systems can be used to provide electricity at times of high demand.

REPOWERBalcombe hopes to install more storage systems in the future, as the price of lithium batteries continues to fall.