Readings of a (Li)thium Language (in production)

Readings of a Lithium Language is a multi-platform installation that depicts the setup of the Willenhall Energy Storage System (a grid connected battery research and demonstrator facility at the Willenhall substation).

With recordings of its life-cycle through a series of readings in energy consumption and storage, alongside the monitoring of the systems overall stability and health, the installation provides further insight into the power flow management of the facility, tracking its faults, weather and seasonal variation.

Along with fluctuations of power usage, staggered sounds of the systems start-up processes are recorded using various microphones that convert ground movement into voltage, piercing through the material layers to the core, whilst the characteristics of the site and its pre-configured machines are personified through single core armoured cables, battery modules and system inverters.

The 2MW 1MWh grid connected battery facility looks at future possibilities for large-scale energy storage and how to overcome the challenges associated with connecting such technologies to the grid.

The facility was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council as part of the Capital for Great Technologies theme to grow the understanding of grid connected battery energy storage from fundamental chemistry to application.

Lithium (used in the make up of the titanate battery facility) is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in vacuum, inert atmosphere, or inert liquid such as purified kerosene or mineral oil.