Finnish technology group Wärtsilä signed a contract with EDF Renewables UK and Ireland to deliver a new grid-scale energy storage facility in Sundon, England. The 50MW/100MWh project will form part of a new energy superhub in the region.
Construction is expected to start in spring 2023. The 50MW/100MWh lithium-ion storage facility will support electric vehicle (EV) charging, it added.
Matthew Boulton, Director of Storage and Private Wire at EDF Renewables, said the company is working with local councils to accelerate the roll-out of energy superhubs.
Wärtsilä provided its propriety GridSolv Quantum system and GEMS Digital Energy Platform, in addition to the power conversion system and commissioning for the project. GEMS provides the data and insights to instruct trading parties.
Wärtsilä’s installed energy storage technology base in the UK now exceeds 424MWh, it said. The prior projects with EDF Renewables (formerly Pivot Power) in Oxford and Kemsley in Kent were delivered in 2021, and two projects in Birmingham and Coventry are under construction. Wärtsilä has also delivered a number of other energy storage projects in the UK, including a 50MW/100MWh project first site for SSE in Salisbury, and an islanded-grid project to balance renewables in Lerwick, on the Shetland Islands.
