HARWELL, UK (15 August 2023) The Faraday Institution has been appointed to lead the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage (ACES) under the UK Government’s £1 billion Ayrton Fund .
ACES will leverage the UK funding, as well as the expertise and partnerships of British scientists and innovators, to deliver the latest cutting-edge energy storage technology for developing countries. Currently, 675 million people globally lack access to electricity and many more suffer from unreliable supplies. Energy storage is key to enhance reliability of energy supply, as well as to reduce emissions and meet global climate change targets.
As part of ACES, the Faraday Institution will lead a research and development programme to March 2027, focused on expanding energy access, facilitating emissions reductions, and supporting energy transitions in developing countries. The programme will lead on development of improved and lower cost battery energy storage systems. This will help maximise power availability from low-carbon, renewable energy sources, supporting the displacement of expensive and polluting fossil fuel-based back up generation, reducing carbon emissions, air pollution and negative health impacts.
The £5 million R&D programme is part of a wider co-ordinated ACES package of at least £25m across a range of partners for skills development, technology accelerators, and venture and market building activities. Innovations will reduce the cost and improve the performance of energy storage systems for static off- and weak-grid, and e-mobility solutions in target countries.
Professor Charlotte Watts, the FCDO Chief Scientific Advisor and Director of Research said:
“Energy storage is absolutely central to tackling global climate change and expanding access to clean and reliable energy for all. Our International Development Strategy and Integrated Review Refresh are clear about the importance of climate innovation.
“We are scaling-up UK research and innovation support internationally via the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage. Expanded research partnerships to develop new battery options to meet the needs of developing countries and use readily available resources, will help minimise costs and environmental impacts, and be essential to delivering sustainable and affordable clean energy.”
The Ayrton Fund aims to accelerate the clean energy transition in developing countries, by creating innovative clean energy technologies and business models, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, and especially progress on Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG7) and Climate Action (SDG13).
The energy storage elements of the Zero Emission Generators (ZE-Gen) initiative form part of ACES, which was first launched by the UK at COP27 , and which aims to advance renewable energy-based alternatives to fossil-fuelled generators.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) , the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) jointly manage the Ayrton Fund through ongoing, new, and scaled-up clean energy platforms and programmes.
As the UK’s expert institution on energy storage R&D, the Faraday Institution will coordinate with partners including Shell Foundation , Acumen , the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) , UCL and Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst , as well as a range of academic and industry leaders. ACES builds on the UK’s existing partnership with the wider global movement for energy access, through the extensive networks of the FCDO’s Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform .
The Faraday Institution will directly lead the following activities as part of ACES:
The R&D programme will include:
These plans build on work already delivered by the Faraday Institution and its research partners since 2019 and as part of the Ayrton Fund over the last two years. For example:
“Selecting the Faraday Institution as the lead for the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage will leverage the strength of our research community, and our policy and skills expertise, to deliver, at pace, a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary effort,” comments Professor Pam Thomas, CEO, Faraday Institution.
“The Faraday Institution is well positioned to effect global change. Decarbonising electricity provision in communities in the global south with low or no connectivity is a multi-faceted challenge. Working collaboratively with multiple partners, ACES will move the dial, bringing reliable access to clean energy sources to communities, changing lives and livelihoods.”