The battery went live on a balancing mechanism tool used by the National Grid ESO
The battery is located in Thurcroft, South Yorkshire. (Credit: Flexitricity)
Flexitricity, a flexible energy specialist, and Gresham House Energy Storage Fund have brought the Gresham House 50MW/75MWh battery online in the UK.
Located in Thurcroft, South Yorkshire, the Gresham House 50MW/75MWh battery is said to be the UK’s largest of its kind.
Flexitricity director Andy Lowe said: “Flexibility is a hugely important part of decarbonising the grid and batteries are an excellent source of flexibility.
“Investors are getting comfortable with the business case for energy storage and it’s great this year to be seeing a number of large batteries coming onto the system, providing more of the rapid response flexibility National Grid ESO needs to maintain system stability.”
Gresham House battery to help National Grid ESO balance power supply and demand
Optimised by Flexitricity, the battery will help National Grid ESO balance power supply and demand.
According to Flexitricity, the battery went live in the Balancing Mechanism (BM) Reserve from Storage Trial. It was then live in the tool immediately later on.
The BM tool, which is used by the National Grid ESO, is designed to balance supply and demand on the electricity system in real-time.
The tool will be monitored by Flexitricity from its 24/7 control room, and remotely adjust the Thurcroft battery’s charge and discharge profile.
Gresham House managing director Ben Guest said: “We have plans to grow our energy storage portfolio, aiming for over 350MW in operational assets by the end of 2020.
“Great Britain needs at least 10GW in the next few years to enable the orderly transition to a renewables-led electricity market.”
Flexitricity said that the project, in future, will focus on the option of trading the battery in the wholesale markets. It will also tender for frequency response services to help the country in meeting its energy needs.
Although the UK has around 1GW of installed battery storage capacity, the country requires further capacity to facilitate a net zero energy system.