As outlined in a previous research piece, UK’s energy storage capacity has undergone significant growth in recent years. 800MW was connected to the grid in 2022 alone bringing the nation’s capacity to 2.4GW, with a future project pipeline of 34.5GW. In this article, we will introduce three landmark storage projects that have been developed in the country. All of the projects have been developed by green energy developers which can be found on our list of European storage developers.
Pillswood Project – Harmony’s 98MW battery storage project
Located in Cottingham, East Yorkshire Harmony Energy developed the 98MW site in November 2022 which has the capacity to store 196MWh of electricity. The project is located beside the National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation which is the same connection point as one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms. The storage project consists of a Tesla 2-hour Megapack system that can store enough electricity to power 300,000 UK homes. Pillswood represents the most significant storage project Harmony has developed and is the third battery storage project the firm has developed.
Minety Project – Penso Power’s 150MW battery storage project
Penso Power began the development of the 150MW site in 2019, the project is initially a 100MW site which has plans to expand to 150MW. The project was the biggest battery storage project in Europe under development at the time. Penso’s project consists of three 50MW lithium-iron-phosphate batteries which will store enough energy to power 15,000 homes a day. The electricity produced will be sold to Shell for the initial 100MW and Penso is seeking a buyer for the remaining 50MW. Penso will continue to build upon its storage capacity, with a future project pipeline of 4GW.
Chapel Farm – TagEnergy and Harmony Energy’s 49.5MW battery storage project
Chapel Farm is a £30m battery storage project which is a joint venture between TagEnergy and Harmony Energy, which also received funding from Santander UK. This is the second project developed by TagEnergy after its 20MW Hawkers Hill Energy Park. The two projects coupled with its Roaring Hill project in Fife, Jamesfield farm project in Scotland, and Lakeside in North Yorkshire will bring TagEnergy’s installed capacity to 270MW.
Image Source: Annie Spratt via Unsplash (17.07.23)
