The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has approved the construction of the biggest battery storage project in the UK, and one of the largest such projects in the world, the company developing the site said on Monday.
InterGen, an energy company headquartered in Edinburgh, has received the green light to build the US$267 million (£200 million) project in southern England. The project is expected to provide at least 320MW/640MWh of capacity, with the potential to expand to 1.3GWh – more than ten times the size of the largest battery currently in operation in the UK and set to be one of the world’s largest, InterGen said.
The battery storage project, which will be built at DP World London Gateway on the Thames Estuary, dwarfs any similar projects currently in operation in the UK, with the largest operational project currently at 75MWh.
“It is also likely to be one of the biggest batteries anywhere in the world,” InterGen said.
Construction on the Gateway project is expected to start in 2022 and become operational in 2024.
InterGen is also exploring the option to develop another large battery project at its site in Spalding, Lincolnshire, which would be 175MW / 350MWh. The planning permissions are already in place for the project in Lincolnshire in east England.
Battery storage will be essential to the UK’s net-zero ambitions and its target to become a global leader in offshore wind energy, powering every home in the country with wind energy by 2030, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in early October.
Battery storage will also be crucial to advancing renewable energy in other parts of the world. Earlier this month, French company Neoen said that it would build an even bigger, 300-MW/450-MWh, battery storage system in Australia, in partnership with Tesla. The Victorian Big Battery in Australia, one of the world’s largest batteries, will be delivered together with Tesla and network partner AusNet Services.
Read more: Oilprice.com
