UK-headquartered battery storage investor-developer Gore Street is using battery data analytics solutions to manage risk and get improved insurance terms on projects in its portfolio.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund’s investment manager, Gore Street Capital, announced this morning that the fund has deployed the cloud-based battery data analytics software from Germany-headquartered provider ACCURE.
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The predictive analytics solution is able to reduce operational issues and the risk of fires caused by thermal runaway events, Gore Street said.
The artificial intelligence (AI) driven software has been onboarded at two of Gore Street’s project sites in the UK: the 80MW Stony project which was energised last summer and is optimised in the market by EDF; and Lower Road, a 10MW project which went online in 2020 and is optimised by Flexitricity, which took over from its original optimiser, Arenko.
A source close to Gore Street Energy Storage Fund told Energy-Storage.news that this is thought to be the first deal of its kind in the UK to leverage an analytics solution to get improved insurance terms. With battery energy storage system (BESS) insurance costs currently quite high, the deal could “create ripples” through the industry, the source said.
The technology was tested at the two sites in 2022, while it is also set to be used at another project, the 50MW Ferrymuir BESS asset which Gore Street acquired in 2020 and is currently under construction.
Deal will ‘ultimately deliver greater value to investors,’ broker says
As regular readers of Energy-Storage.news may know from our coverage and various contributed articles and webinars from ACCURE and fellow analytics providers TWAICE and PowerUp, battery data analytics enable a closer understanding of battery performance, operation, and safety.
The cloud-based solutions enable much better estimation of battery health and lifetime, using millions of data points from cell level to assess state of health (SOH), state of charge (SOC), internal temperature, and more. They do this by layering up information from forecasting and modelling and field data with AI to detect irregular behaviours in battery cells and diagnose problems as well as recommending corrective action where needed.
In a recent interview for ESN Premium, ACCURE CEO Kai-Philipp Kairies discussed how the firm’s analytics were used at a Texas, US project to troubleshoot for developer National Grid Renewables during the commissioning process.
The software company was afterwards contracted to monitor performance of that project once it was in commercial operation, and its data and track record of helping prevent fires for different kinds of battery installations were also instrumental in securing local community support for the BESS project, Kairies said.
Specialist insurer HDI Global, ACCURE and Gore Street have entered into an arrangement to use the predictive analytics to create the risk-managed insurance policy for Lower Road and Stony.
HDI Global’s tech innovation arm developed a joint business model with the analytics provider that is claimed to increase risk transparency. The insurer’s risk consulting business then determined that the insurance package Gore Street got for its projects should take into account the improved visibility into performance and safety the software has enabled.
“We are thrilled to deliver this bespoke policy to Gore Street Capital, which recognises the benefits of combining improved risk management, performance, safety, revenue, and cost for its energy storage portfolio to ultimately deliver greater value for investors,” said Andrew Sinclair of insurance brokers PIB, which sold Gore Street its coverage.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund is one of the UK’s three stock exchange-listed funds dedicated to energy storage assets, investing in front-of-the-meter (FTM) grid-scale storage projects. It started off in the UK, before also acquiring projects in Ireland, Germany and Texas’ ERCOT market, while its first project in California on the CAISO grid is currently in construction.
“As the manager of a market-leading portfolio of energy storage assets, we are always looking for new approaches to help improve the safety and operations of the assets under our care,” Gore Street Capital CEO Alex O’Cinneide said.
“We’re proud to have helped establish battery analytics software as a valuable means of assessing and reducing risks to secure enhanced insurance conditions.”
Those efforts will be the focus of an upcoming Energy-Storage.news webinar sponsored by ACCURE. You can register free for ‘Learn how innovations in insurance unlock the full potential of battery storage systems,’ taking place 15 May.
Read more of Energy-Storage.news’ coverage of activities in the battery analytics space.
This article has been amended from its original form to reflect that Flexitricity is the current optimiser of Gore Street’s 10MW Lower Road project.
