SSE acquires development rights for 50MW battery storage system
Scottish utility SSE is set to start the construction of a 50MW battery energy storage system in Wiltshire after acquiring project development rights from Harmony Energy Limited.
The construction of the facility is expected to be finalised in the next 18 months as part of efforts by SSE to expand its portfolios of flexible and renewable energy.
Peter Kavanagh, CEO of Harmony Energy, said: “The site has been four years development work in the making.” Once complete, the system will provide balancing services to the energy system.
Richard Cave Bidgely, the director of distributed generation and storage for SSE, adds: “Our distributed energy division has ambitions to build a significant portfolio of batteries – we’re looking at around 500MW of early-stage opportunities – and we hope today’s announcement signals the seriousness of our intent in this market.”
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SSE plans to use the flexible energy business case to accelerate both the company and the UK’s transition to net-zero. Today, SSE has 4GW of renewable energy capacity across its operations and plans to have 30TWh of clean capacity by 2030.
Kavanagh, added that the deployment of energy storage is fundamental to the UK’s energy mix and enabling the reduction of carbon emissions.”
Bidgely reiterated that energy storage will help his company to accelerate the retirement of fossil fuels by helping bring new renewable energy capacity onto the grid.
Energy storage will allow the utility to use renewable energy during peak periods traditionally powered by energy generated using conventional resources. This means that energy generated from renewable energy during times when solar, wind, and hydro generation is high can be used at times including during the nights when renewable generation is low or when water levels are low.
