UK-based battery storage company Zenobe today said it has started construction of a 1-GW/2-GWh portfolio of three battery projects in Scotland that will provide stability services to National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) as fossil fuel power is phased out.
The projects are located at Blackhillock, Kilmarnock South and Eccles. Work on the 300-MW/600-MWh Blackhillock site started this month with a 200-MW/400-MWh first phase expected to start operations in the first half of 2024. The 300-MW/600-MWh Kilmarnock South is due to go online shortly after that and start-up of the 400-MW/800-MWh Eccles project is slated for the first half of 2026.
The projects represent the world’s first commercial contracts that use transmission connected batteries to provide short-circuit level and inertia, the company said.
The projects were contracted through NGESO’s Stability Pathfinder Phase 2 tender, the results of which were announced in April.
“NGESO is working hard to enable the UK to have a carbon free power network. Working with the industry we have developed contracts that accelerate the rapid uptake of renewable power. These contracts are part of the solution that will enable NGESO to have the ability to operate a zero carbon system in 2025,” commented Julian Leslie, head of networks at National Grid ESO.
Zenobe said that the locations of the projects were selected to reduce curtailment of wind farms that have experienced rapid rollout in Scotland.
The GBP-750-million (USD 883m/EUR 857m) investment in the protfolio will make Zenobe the largest provider of battery-based transmission solutions in Europe, according to the announcement.
The three batteries follow a 50-MW/100-MWh project at Wishaw that will be the first in Scotland to hook up directly to the transmission network in the first half of 2023. Its construction started earlier this year.
(GBP 1 = USD 1.178/EUR 1.142)
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