Siemens has partnered with the company behind what is to be the UK’s first lithium-ion battery gigafactory, providing it with its Digital Enterprise Technology.
Britishvolt will have access to Siemens’ electrification solutions, automation and Digital Twin manufacturing execution technology, with this system giving the company the opportunity to simulate gigaplant production processes and flows ahead of construction and completion as well as promising to speed up delivery times.
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Siemens is also to provide Britishvolt with its design and simulation development tools, accelerating the time it takes for battery cells to go from laboratory to production at scale.
Having been unveiled in May, the gigafactory has gone through a location change, originally announcing South Wales as the location after Britishvolt signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Welsh government. However, it has now been relocated to Northumberland in England on a site that previously held the now demolished coal-fired Blyth Power Station.
The gigafactory – which Carl Ennis, CEO Siemens GB and Ireland, described as a “vital” project – is to start delivering the first batteries at the end of 2023, with a production capacity of up to 35GWh. Ennis added that Siemens’ is to use its manufacturing and energy infrastructure technology and services to help Britishvolt to build “the most efficient, sustainable gigaplant”.
Our publisher Solar Media is once again hosting the annual Energy Storage Summit for 2021, taking place in an exciting new format on 23-24 February and 2-3 March 2021. See the website for more details.
