UK’s largest battery to help keep the nation’s lights on
18th May 2020 | Commercial Energy
A market access deal has been agreed for what is thought to be Europe’s largest battery storage site, at Thurcroft near Rotherham. Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has partnered with Edinburgh-based Flexitricity to optimise its 50MW / 75 MWh facility. Flexible energy specialist Flexitricity will provide market access, optimising revenue for the asset as well as helping National Grid ESO balance supply and demand.
The South Yorkshire-based lithium-ion battery storage site will be monitored from Flexitricity’s 24/7 control room in Edinburgh and Flexitricity will move the asset between different markets. It will be traded in the wholesale markets. At other times it will be providing services such as frequency response to help regulate system frequency and keep it within safe operating levels. Energy storage offers a way to capture clean energy and balance energy generation against demand.
Battery
The UK now boasts close to 1GW worth of installed battery storage capacity, but the market needs further growth to facilitate a net zero energy system. Andy Loew, director at Flexitricity, said, “Flexibility is a hugely important part of decarbonising the grid and batteries are an excellent source of flexibility. It’s one of the only asset classes that can deliver the rapid response flexibility National Grid ESO needs now and will need even more in the future to maintain system stability.
“That’s why it’s been great to see the investment case for batteries gain momentum over the last 12 months and ambitious projects such as Thurcroft become reality. While the value is there, extracting it isn’t easy – it requires a high level of expertise and the right technology, people and algorithms. We’re delight that Gresham House has chosen us as their optimisation partner for a second asset, after we contracted with them for the Noriker Staunch project in 2019.”
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