UK battery storage and EV fleet company Zenobē said it landed a £750 million ($894 million) contract for battery storage projects in Scotland.
It said the contract, ordered by National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) and commissioned through the national grid stability pathfinder, will make Zenobē the largest provider of battery-based transmission solutions in Europe.
The investment will be in three battery projects totalling 1GW/2GWh and will, it claimed, deliver the world’s first contracts for stability services using transmission-connected batteries.
The batteries will be lithium, with Blackhillock and Kilmarnock using LFP.
The company claims it will be the largest investment by a single company into battery technology in Europe. Zenobē has begun construction at sites in Blackhillock, Kilmarnock South and Eccles in the Scottish Borders. This brings its total portfolio in Scotland to 1050MW/2100MWh and equates to more than the total MWh of all grid-connected batteries operating in the UK today.
The company claimed these are “the first commercial contracts in the world” to use transmission-connected batteries to provide short-circuit level and inertia.
Zenobē will provide 4.4GVAs of inertia, equivalent to some 5-10% of Britain’s requirement. The batteries will also ease network constraints by importing electricity at times of peak renewable generation.
Julian Leslie, Head of Networks at NGESO, said these contracts will help NGESO have the ability to operate a zero-carbon system in 2025.
Construction at the Blackhillock site began this month with the site due to go live in H1 2024. This follows the 50MW/100MWh battery project at Wishaw, which is the first to win a constraint management contract from NGESO. It will be the first in Scotland to connect directly to the transmission network when it goes live in H1 2023.
- The Blackhillock project is 300MW/600MWh, with phase 1 (200MW/400MWh) due to go live in H1 2024.
- Kilmarnock South is 300MW/600MWh, with phase 1 (200MW/400MWh) due to go live in H2 2024.
- Eccles is 400MW/800MWh and due to go live in H1 2026.
