Chinese battery giant BYD has supplied two BESS units for two low head river hydropower projects in the UK.
The 1,200kWh lithium-ion batteries have been deployed by Barn Energy, the company that developed and owns the hydro projects— which it said are among the three largest built in the UK in the past 20 years.
The BESS units on the rivers Don and Aire in Yorkshire were installed by Anesco and mark the first time battery storage units have been deployed in the UK in combination with low-head river hydro schemes, Barn Energy said.
Barn Energy worked with its sister company, Eelpower, on the hydro projects and the two plan to install another BESS at a separate hydro scheme in England.
The existing batteries are currently feeding power to the National Grid on a two-year firm frequency response (FFR) contract for the National Grid.
The CEO of Barn Energy and Eelpower Mark Simon said: “By co-locating the battery units with hydropower, 60% to 0% of the battery consumption (when performing grid balancing services such as FFR) is provided for by hydropower and the rest comes from the grid. This is a significant benefit for the economics of our battery, and of our hydropower station.”
