Environmental MP praises Telford firm for tackling green agenda

Philip Dunne, chair of parliament’s influential environmental audit committee, said the type of virtual power plant being pioneered by AceOn could be spread "far and wide" in the fight to cut the country’s carbon emissions.

He added that the company’s work to develop cutting edge battery technology to allow more renewable energy to be captured and stored could play a "big part" in helping deliver a sustainable future.

Mr Dunne, Conservative MP for Ludlow and a former defence minister, was speaking after being given a special tour of AceOn’s headquarters in Telford, during which he saw some of the pioneering work the company is leading.

It includes a project to recycle old electric bus batteries to store solar power – the first of its kind in the country – and the virtual power plant which is now being fitted to housing association homes in Telford to help drive down emissions, cut fuel bills, lift tenants out of fuel poverty and increase the use of renewable energy.

Mr Dunne said: “I was fascinated to see AceOn’s example of how solar power generated on the roof of a home can pass through an inverter, with the energy stored, to be released back into use in the home as required by the householder, or sold to the grid, using smart metering.

“I was encouraged to learn that one of the local housing associations have started installing it and tenants are beginning to benefit. I think there's a real opportunity here if adoption of such technologies can be facilitated and become cost effective to enable more widespread use to allow consumers to benefit from this innovation and cut emissions at the same time.”

Mr Dunne said that the work AceOn was doing on the Renewergy Virtual Power Plant and in developing new battery technology could play a key role in meeting the UK’s target to be carbon zero by 2050.

Transform

“There is currently not a comprehensive plan for achieving the emission reductions in our homes and this kind of capability to transform energy capture through solar panels on the roof into energy usage in our homes to cut down the emissions that we're expelling into the atmosphere could be a big part of it.”

Mr Dunne watched live data from the virtual power plant scheme showing that it helped some homes run on renewable energy for nearly 90 per cent of the time and was also briefed on a range of new projects the company is working on.

AceOn Energy managing director Richard Partington said: “It was an enormous pleasure to welcome Mr Dunne to our base and show him some of the ground-breaking work we are doing here.

“He has a huge responsibility in helping ensure this country has a credible plan in place to meet its Climate Change targets and I would like to think that we showed him just how passionate we are in playing a leading part in achieving those goals.”

Richard and AceOn Group manging director Mark Thompson also stressed to Mr Dunne the need for the Government to place energy storage on an equal footing with heat pumps in the drive to make homes more green.

“Government seems to have a major fixation on heat pumps but does not currently seem to recognise the multiple benefits that domestic and commercial renewable energy generation and storage can deliver.   We very much hope this is something Mr Dunne’s committee will look at.”

AceOn is a pioneering energy storage and battery company with over 30 years’ experience in the battery industry.

The company works across the UK and internationally with partners across the globe.

AceOn, which employs 27 members of staff, has built a reputation as being specialists in solar and battery technology, particularly the development of bespoke, custom-built battery packs.