Larne company saving energy across Europe

Larne Company B9 Energy Storage Ltd has announced participation within an international consortium to promote renewable sources.
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster and Employment and Learning Minister Dr. Stephen Farry are joined by the European Commissions DG Research and Innovation Alan Cross (left) and Michael Harper, director, B9 Energy Storage Ltd at the launch of the Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 strategy in Belfast recently. Pic by Andrew Towe. INLT 16-655-CONEnterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster and Employment and Learning Minister Dr. Stephen Farry are joined by the European Commissions DG Research and Innovation Alan Cross (left) and Michael Harper, director, B9 Energy Storage Ltd at the launch of the Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 strategy in Belfast recently. Pic by Andrew Towe. INLT 16-655-CON
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster and Employment and Learning Minister Dr. Stephen Farry are joined by the European Commissions DG Research and Innovation Alan Cross (left) and Michael Harper, director, B9 Energy Storage Ltd at the launch of the Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 strategy in Belfast recently. Pic by Andrew Towe. INLT 16-655-CON

The “STORY” project involves B9 Energy and companies in Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Slovenia and Belgium.

It has been awarded European Commission funding for a series of energy storage demonstration projects across Europe.

The funding comes from the Horizon 2020 programme which is part of the Commission’s strategy for the development of competitive low-carbon energy in Europe.

David Surplus, of B9 Energy, said: “B9 has for some time been developing an interest in compressed air as an electrical storage medium both for microgrid development and for increasing the penetration of renewables on the Northern Ireland system.

“In our view, increasing the penetration of renewables is essential not only as a contribution to the wider national environmental targets but also for contributing to Northern Ireland’s energy security and for supporting inward investment into Northern Ireland by companies demanding an ever-smaller environmental footprint from where they do business.

“This work will complement B9’s other renewables work on solar energy.”

“The STORY project will conduct valuable research, through demonstration projects, into how best to secure the technical and economic benefits that can be achieved by combining local energy storage systems with smart grid management.

“Growing the use of energy storage will help to increase security of supply, grid stability and allow a greater share of our energy to come from renewable sources.

“The Northern Ireland demonstration project will focus on the challenges of using a compressed air storage system to increase penetration of renewable sources of energy within the local grid network.”

Meanwhile, B9 is continuing a solar installation drive in the Larne area.