Tesla batteries to be used in UK’s ‘largest’ energy storage site
Work has started on the UK’s ‘largest battery energy storage site’ in Essex by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures in partnership with projects developer Harmony Energy. The 99MW/198MWh Clay Tye energy storage system will be built using Tesla Megapack lithium-ion batteries.
The system will be integrated with artificial intelligence-based software developed by Tesla for real-time trading and control of energy from the project. Electricity stored at the site will be traded into UK Power Network’s distribution network as flexible energy for grid reliability.
The project is claimed to be the biggest of its kind and follows a successful rollout of the 34MW/68Mh Contego battery storage system by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Harmony Energy in West Sussex.
The system contains 28 Tesla Megapack batteries and the autobidder software.
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The construction of the site falls under efforts to expand the UK’s energy storage and flexible energy capacity to help the country move away from fossil fuels and decarbonise the grid network.
Fotowatio Renewable Ventures is using its partnership with Harmony Energy to increase its global footprint within the storage market. Today, the company has 1GWh of battery energy storage projects. Harmony Energy has 1.2GWh of storage capacity in the UK alone.
Fady Jameel, deputy president and vice chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel, said the aim is to have Fotowatio Renewable Ventures play a key role in the global sustainability agenda by doubling its energy storage capacity to 4GW by 2024.
The launch of the project comes at a time when the deployment of large-scale battery energy storage projects has become critical for the UK to connect more renewable capacity onto its grid network to achieve 2050 net-zero goals.
Saadat Hussain, connections project manager at UK Power Networks, added: “The next decade is set to be a transformative time for the electricity sector as we progress towards achieving Net Zero as a country.”
