Arsenal Football Club has installed a large-scale battery energy storage that is big enough to power its 60,000-seat stadium for an entire match.
The football club is the first in the UK to get on board with battery energy storage in a big way, as it attempts to cut electricity costs and support green energy, the Guardian reports.
Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatesham called the move a “big step forward” for the club in its efforts to become more energy efficient and reduce its carbon footprint.
The 3-megawatt ion lithium battery, which sits in the basement of the Emirates, can store enough energy to power the stadium for 90 minutes. It’s the equivalent of powering 2,700 homes for two hours.
Initially, only two megawatts of capacity will be used, with the final megawatt to be switched on next summer. The club already uses clean electricity from a network of solar farms and anaerobic digestion plants.
In a press release, Arsenal said that the use of LED floodlights in the Emirates have reduced floodlight energy consumption by 30%, a saving which equates to seven million kilograms of carbon – enough to fill the stadium nearly four times over.
Minister for the Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategy, Claire Perry, said that Arsenal have scored a “hat-trick” with this latest energy project: tackling peak prices and storing clean energy, with the goal of selling back energy to the grid at peak times.
“A more flexible energy grid could save the UK billions and this kind of cutting-edge technology shows companies the potential of being part of the beautiful game of smarter energy systems,” she added.
The battery will generate income by providing services to National Grid to help it balance supply and demand. Arsenal didn’t even have to buy the batteries – they were paid for by Downing LLP who, along with the club and the company who installed the system, take a slice of the revenue stream.
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