Britain’s newest National Grid battery storage site is one of Europe’s biggest
At 98MW capacity the Pillswood project is capable of supplying clean energy to over 150,000 homes for four hours. The battery energy storage system (BESS) is located near to the city of Hull. It came online on Monday 21st November 2022. It will be followed by two more plants of similar size in 2023.
The system has been developed by Harmony Energy. A Tesla 2-hour Megapack system manages power storage. As much as 196MWh (megawatt hours) of electricity can be stored in a single cycle.
UK energy crisis
Activation of the site has been brought forward by four months. This was due to the energy emergency faced by the UK caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A problem the country would not have faced if successive governments over the past 30 years had invested properly in clean renewable energy. Energy supply such as onshore wind, offshore wind and solar power, backed up by BESS.
The Pillswood site has been installed adjacent to National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation. This substation will be upgraded and eventually connected to Dogger Bank. When complete Dogger Bank will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. When it comes online in 2025 it will generate 4.8GW. That’s enough energy to power both Scotland and Wales simultaneously.
New 550 MW BESS under construction
Battery storage planning laws have been changed to allow more developments. We think this is a very sensible decision by the UK government. Over 50MW will come on line without going through the ‘nimby‘ national planning process. Construction has already begun and is about to start on five more BESS sites around Great Britain. Construction has rightly been accelerated due to the current gas supply challenges.
At times of over supply, such as during the night, energy will be diverted to BESS. Likewise during the day excess energy from solar can also be stored. With enough BESS capacity Great Britain will rely less and less on fossil fuels in future. To the point where eventually fossil fuels can be phased out power generation for GB National Grid altogether.
Peter Kavanagh, director of Harmony Energy says
Harmony Energy says it will activate five new BESS currently under construction before October 2023. Three other projects in the pipeline would accelerate its overall portfolio to a total capacity of 500MW/1GWh.
Says Peter Kavanagh;
Battery energy storage systems are essential to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy in the UK, and we hope this particular one highlights Yorkshire as a leader in green energy solutions. It is also a significant achievement for Harmony Energy Limited: this project is the third, and largest, battery energy storage project which we have developed and subsequently delivered through construction.
These projects are not supported by taxpayer subsidy and will play a major role in contributing to the Net Zero transition, as well as ensuring the future security of the UK’s energy supply and reduced reliance on foreign gas imports.
All stakeholders have recognized the importance of achieving energization for this project ahead of winter, and we would like to thank Tesla, G2 Energy, and Northern Powergrid for their efforts in delivering the project ahead of schedule despite a very challenging geopolitical and global supply chain environment.
Further reading
https://www.jpsil.co.uk/content/bess-battery-energy-storage-system
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/11/02/uk-battery-energy-storage-acquisitions-heating-up/
https://doggerbank.com/
https://www.jpsil.co.uk/blog/bess-in-scotland/