London's first virtual power plant to run off household solar

The UK’s capital city will soon be installed with its first ‘virtual power station’ which will use electricity from household solar panels and battery storage.

The UK Power Networks (UKPN)announced that new power station, to be located across the London borough of Barnet.

40 homes in the borough that already have solar panels will be fitted with energy storage systems that can be remotely controlled.

The controlled batteries will combine output from solar panels on top of homes to enable full charge capacity during peak demands – weekday evenings.

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Through the system, residents in the are will be able to save money and well as earn from energy saved in their batteries.

Ultimately the project aims to provide balance to the grid during peak and troughs in demand.

“London is a world-leader in technology and projects like this are just the start as we move towards a decarbonised, decentralised and digitised network that will offer significant benefits to our customers,” stated Barry Hatton, UKPN’s Director of Asset Management.

“It will help to keep down electricity distribution costs by providing a viable alternative to the traditional approach of simply adding more cables and substations to increase capacity.”

UKPN aims for the batteries to be installed so the virtual power station can be operational by winter this year.