Flow batteries paired with tidal energy to produce green hydrogen in Scottish islands project

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
The European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) onshore substation and hydrogen plant at Caldale, Eday. Image: Orkeny Sky Cam, courtesy of EMEC.

In a world first project, tidal power is set to be combined with vanadium flow batteries to produce continuous green hydrogen.

The project will be located on the island of Eday, Orkney, off the northern coast of Scotland, at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) tidal energy test site, with a 1.8MWh flow battery from Invinity Energy Systems installed to help “smooth” tidal generation.

While tidal generation is predictable, it is variable with two high tides and two low a day. This makes it an extremely heavy cycling application, which can be very hard on conventional lithium-ion batteries, degrading them much faster than when they are used with technologies like solar PV.

This makes Invinitiy’s vanadium flow batteries much better suited, according to the company, as they are able to form heavy duty, stationary energy storage for high-utilisation and industrial applications. The Eday site will consist of eight Invinity VS3 battery modules linked together into a single system, which will be constructed at the company’s manufacturing facility in Bathgate, West Lothian.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

To read the full version of this story visit our sister site Current±.

Read Next

August 20, 2025
Now is the moment for long-duration energy storage to become a key pillar of the energy transition, writes LDES Council CEO Julia Souder.
August 19, 2025
AGL Energy has deployed approximately AU$900 million toward BESS and renewables in Australia during the fiscal year ending June 2025.
August 18, 2025
Iron flow battery company ESS Tech Inc (ESS Inc) has warned of substantial doubts about its ability to survive another year.
August 13, 2025
Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the main electricity company in Sri Lanka, has issued an RFP for large-scale BESS.
August 7, 2025
AES Andes, part of the US-based energy giant AES, has launched construction on two hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects in Chile with 2.2GWh of co-located BESS.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter