Vattenfall wins 22 MW in UK's EFR tender

A 22-MW battery project by Swedish energy group Vattenfall AB is among the winners in a recently completed 200-MW Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender in the UK.

The UK's National Grid (LON:NG) announced the results of the tender on Friday, selecting a total of eight bids, all of which are storage projects. The system operator received proposals from 37 providers, across 64 sites. The winners were awarded four-year contracts.

Confirming the win in the "highly competitive auction" on Friday, Vattenfall said the next step for its project now is to finalise designs and engage with planning authorities with the aim of taking an investment decision in 2017. Full operation is scheduled for 2018.

The company will install a group of connected batteries that will deliver or absorb up to 22 MW of power for a duration of up to 15 minutes. The facility will be located at Vattenfall's 76-turbine Pen y Cymoedd wind project in south Wales.

"Locating the storage facility at Pen y Cymoedd is a cost effective concept for us and we are excited about what we will learn from this new venture," commented Stephen Holdroyd, senior development manager at Vattenfall.

Vattenfall also said Friday that half of the Pen y Cymoedd turbines were now fully assembled.

Half of the 76 #wind turbines are now fully assembled at our Pen y Cymoedd #onshore pic.twitter.com/6jErsOnoEX
— Vattenfall Group (@VattenfallGroup) 26 August 2016