Energy storage company AES Corporation has broken ground on projects that will increase its lithium-ion portfolio by 30MW and produce Europe’s largest energy storage battery.
Firstly, Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL), a subsidiary of AES, began work on a 20MW advanced battery-based energy storage facility in the North American Midwest.
The IPL lithium-ion Advancion™ Energy Storage Array will be the first grid-scale storage system in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator grid system.
Across the Atlantic the US company began work on its first battery-based energy storage facility in the Netherlands, Europe.
The Netherlands Advancion™ Energy Storage Array will provide 10MW of interconnected energy storage, equivalent to 20MW of flexible resource.
The array is expected to begin operations by the end of 2015.
Elesewhere, AES started work on the advanced, battery-based energy storage facility next to its Kilroot Power Station in Co Antrim, NI. Once constructed it will be Europe’s largest energy storage battery using a 10MW lithium-ion battery array.
The Kilroot Advancion™ Energy Storage Array will provide 10MW of interconnected energy storage to the grid. It is expected to begin operations by the end of 2015.
AES announced earlier this year it plans to expand the plant 10-fold to create a 100MW battery array by 2017.
The Kilroot array will help balance supply and demand, and support the all island transmission grid, via system operator, SONI.
