Bulb co-founder says latest energy venture takes ‘very different’ approach
Bulb co-founder says latest energy venture takes ‘very different’ approach
Share:
The co-founder of collapsed energy firm Bulb has apologised for the supplier’s failure and said his new electricity storage company is taking a “completely different” approach. Amit Gudka left Bulb months before it went bust in 2021 and went on to found a battery storage start-up called Field.
The company, now in its fourth year with about 90 employees, builds and runs large-scale batteries designed to provide electricity to the grid when wind turbines and solar panels are not generating power. Field recently bought its biggest site in England, a battery project in the South West which it says is capable of powering 500,000 homes for four hours.
The company hopes to capitalise on a fast renewable energy transition in the UK, after Labour set a target of decarbonising the power system by 2030. The Government’s plan mainly involves ramping up the UK’s wind and solar power to replace fossil fuels, but officials have said battery storage will be important when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.
Mr Gudka told the PA news agency: “Batteries can respond very quickly to either charge up or discharge (on to the grid). The battery owner will get paid a fee.”. He said Field has picked areas where there will likely be constraints on the grid and is developing batteries to release excess energy when it is needed.
