FRV and Harmony begin building of second battery storage project

• Building has obtained underway for Renewables designer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures's (FRV) second battery storage project in the UK, together with partner Harmony Energy.

FRV, owned by Saudi Arabian sector group Abdul Latif Jameel, has actually deployed numerous megawatts of wind and solar projects all over the world considering that 2006, when it constructed what was then the world's biggest solar plant, a 23MWdc project in Spain. However, the business only began its involvement in battery storage space in 2019 with the statement of its very first grid-scale battery project, the 7.5 MW/ 15MWh Holes Bay project in England.

Holes Bay was completed and commissioned in mid-2020, with FRV dealing with companions including UK developer and build-own-operate firm Harmony Energy. In November 2020, the pair after that announced its second project in the country, called Contego, in West Sussex, southern England.

The new project will certainly use 34MW/ 68MWh of Tesla's Megapack utility-scale lithium-ion battery storage service throughout 28 separate systems and also will certainly be optimized for real-time trading and also control applications utilizing the California tech company's Autobidder expert system (AI) software platform.

The system will be connected to the electricity network of UK Power Networks, among 6 regional circulation network drivers (DNOs) in Great Britain. It will certainly allow the DNO to shift energy stored at off-peak times to aid minimize the effect of optimals sought after in addition to incorporating renewable resource onto the network.

FRV and Harmony announced today that groundworks have actually started on the project, with building anticipated to be completed in June 2021.

At this year's Energy Storage Top 2021, sector analyst Lauren Cook from Solar Media Marketing research claimed that the UK now has a pipe of more than 14GW of battery projects at different phases of growth and also greater than 1.2 GW of lithium-ion battery storage online.

Harmony Energy has more than 500MW of battery energy storage plants construction-ready in the UK, and also in 2020 introduced its primary step right into the solar market, with a 30MW advancement near Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Solar energy Portal overtook the company' Chief Executive Officer Peter Kavanagh in December, to talk about the step and also what was following on the cards for Harmony.