'Europe's biggest' battery energy system opens in East Yorkshire

‘Europe’s biggest’ battery energy storage system (by MWh) has been officially opened.

Located at Pillswood near Cottingham, East Yorkshire, the £75m facility has been developed by Harmony Energy Income Trust Plc employing Tesla Megapack technology. It has the capacity to store up to 196 MWh (megawatt hours) of electricity in a single cycle enough energy to power around 300,000 homes in Yorkshire for two hours.

The site is located adjacent to National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation, the same connection point proposed for phases “A” and “B” of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank, which is set to go live on the first phase this summer.

It will provide critical balancing services to the GB electricity grid network whilst also enabling the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy.

Battery storage facilities such as Harmony Energy Income Trust’s Pillswood BESS enable National Grid to maximise the efficiency of wind farms by reducing the amount of time a wind farm needs to be switched off, ‘curtailed’, due to supply/demand imbalances or network constraints.

Peter Kavanagh, Harmony Energy Limited’s CEO, said: “We are delighted that our Pillswood Project, Europe’s biggest battery energy storage system (by MW/h), has been officially opened.

“Funded by Harmony Energy Income Trust, this is the first of six similar projects the Trust intends to deliver in the coming year. It is also a significant achievement for Harmony: this project is the third, and largest, battery energy storage project which we have developed and delivered.

“I’d like to thank all our partners who helped ensure this scheme was completed well ahead of schedule in particular Tesla who managed the project G2 Energy, Wilson Power Solutions and Northern Power Grid.”

Peter added: “Battery energy storage systems are essential to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy in the UK, and we hope this particular one highlights Yorkshire as a leader in green energy solutions.

“It’s also important to add that these projects are not supported by taxpayer subsidy, they will play a major role in contributing to the Net Zero transition, as well as ensuring the future security of the UK’s energy supply and reduced reliance on foreign gas imports.”


By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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