Plans to build a 41MW battery lithium-ion energy storage system in the UK have been unveiled by GE and UK development partner Arenko.
GE said it will provide the system for Arenko to deliver on demand power to around 100,000 homes and “provide improved energy efficiency to the local community and the UK grid as a whole”.
The system will start operations this year at an as yet unnamed “key strategic location in the Midlands”. The cost of the project is remaining under wraps.
GE said that when the facility is operational “it will integrate GE and Arenko’s advanced control technologies and be commercially operated though Arenko’s software to digitally deploy energy and access multiple services and system needs”, GE said.
GE has been investing in grid scale battery storage technology since 2010. The company said this first project with Arenko, which was established in 2014 to provide large-scale energy storage solutions, would be its 19th— and its largest grid scale commercial battery energy storage facility worldwide.
Arenko CEO Rupert Newland said: “This is a demonstration of Arenko’s strategy to partner with top tier corporates to make a major, positive and sustainable impact on the energy sector.”
Last year, the National Grid in the UK said it was opening up the tender process to allow smaller companies and non-traditional energy storage methods to compete in the grid-scale market.
