Fluence provides energy storage system for Killala wind farm in Ireland

Energy storage firm Fluence has supplied a 10.8MW battery-based energy storage system for Killala Community Wind Farm owned by renewable asset manager Greencoat Renewables.

The Killala Community Wind Farm, located in County Mayo, Ireland, has entered the commissioning phase and aims to increase system stability in the Irish electricity grid. The farm currently comprises 6 Siemens SWT101 3.4MW turbines with a combined capacity of 20.4MW.

This project, which incorporates Fluence’s Gridstack energy storage product, marks the first investment in energy storage technologies by Greencoat Renewables.

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The proprietary Gridstack product is designed for frequency regulation, flexible peaking capacity and enhanced transmission and distribution services. It also includes intelligent controls and an edge-to-cloud communication platform for faster frequency response.

Ben Brooks, Portfolio Manager at Greencoat Renewables, commented: “Battery storage is playing an ever-increasing role in the development of the renewable energy industry in Ireland, providing much needed flexibility and resilience to the electricity grid system and facilitating the growth of renewables and interconnection to support Ireland’s energy transition.

“…The project has and will continue to provide direct and indirect economic benefits to the local area. Utilising available grid capacity at existing sites to increase project performance is a key part of our portfolio management strategy to deliver value to our investors.”

According to Fluence, Ireland is in a good position to capitalise on wind energy resources to increase renewable generation. However, battery-based energy storage technology will be key to enabling the effective integration of these renewables by offering a source of flexibility and capacity.

Fluence Managing Director of UK, Ireland & Israel, Dr Marek Kubik, commented: “Ireland is not slowing down with advancing its agenda to reach climate neutrality by 2050. The government has increased the target percentage of renewables in the generation mix in 2030 from 70% to 80%.

“Targeting levels of 5GW offshore wind, 8GW onshore wind and 1.5-2.5GW solar PV, makes it more important than ever for investors and developers of green generation to look at battery-based energy storage technologies as a way of maximising operational, financial and environmental benefits of their assets.”

Fluence is a joint venture of Siemens and The AES Corporation and this project is the company’s third involving battery-based energy storage co-located with wind farms in Ireland.