A new Penryn company believes it has developed “the missing link” that will enable the affordable storage of surplus electricity generated by domestic solar panels and wind turbines rather than losing it to the grid.
While energy storage is not a new concept, at an entry level price of £3.5k, Wattstor believes it is the first company to get the technology on the UK market in an affordable form.
It can be fitted to any property with a renewable energy system – domestic, commercial, industrial or agricultural.
Wattstor’s ‘Intelligent Management of Power’ (IMP) switching system diverts surplus power to where it is best deployed.
It goes firstly to running the property (appliances, fridges and freezers, lighting, etc), next to charging the battery bank, and then to providing hot water via an immersion heater. Only then will the surplus be sent back to the national grid.
The objective is to maximise the consumption of the clean, safe, free renewable power generated on site and the minimum consumption of dirty, dangerous and increasingly expensive utility company power.
The bonus for most renewables system owners (up to 30Kw capacity) is that their Feed in Tariff income will not be affected.
Wattstor won Best New Product category at last year’s Cornwall Sustainability Awards and has now secured the funding to begin trading.
It will initially create five new jobs in Cornwall, ranging from a general manager/MD-designate to an apprentice electrician. More jobs will follow as the company expands.
Wattstor founder, Peter Cunningham, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for us. The system is right, it’s been tried and tested and now we’re ready to start employing the Wattstor team and undertaking installations in Cornwall.”
