Software provider Arenko is now optimising Vattenfall’s 22MW/16MWh battery, co-located at the 228MW Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm in South Wales.
The move follows the completion of the site’s Enhanced Frequency Response contract – the site was one of just eight projects to be selected to provide the service to National Grid – in February 2022, and will now see the assets entered into wholesale, day-ahead and intraday markets.
The battery storage site consists of 500 BMW i3 automotive battery packs housed in five shipping containers. It is the first battery storage facility in the UK to be co-located at a wind farm site according to Arenko, benefitting from being able to use the existing grid export connection.
Rupert Newland, founder and CEO of Arenko Group, said: “We are delighted to start delivering on our contract with Vattenfall, one of Europe’s leading energy groups. It’s been a great opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy and power of our technology on a co-located asset.”
The company announced its agreement with Vattenfall in July 2021, one of a number of agreements announced last year and into the beginning of 2022 as the company continues to build out the portfolio of assets it optimises using its cloud-based Nimbus software.
This includes an agreement with Foresight to optimise its 50MW Sandridge energy storage asset, an agreement with Gore Street Energy Storage Fund to optimise its 10MW battery asset and contracts to optimise a further 455MW of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund’s battery storage assets.
Vattenfall has also been expanding its operations in the UK, including boosting its position in the electric vehicle and low carbon heating sectors – with its launch of a new high-temperature heat pump drawing particular attention.
“At Vattenfall, our goal is to enable fossil fuel free living within one generation,” said Jake Dunn, commercial manager at Vattenfall.
“We are determined to help this energy transition not just through renewable generation but also supporting grid stability through co located battery storage projects. Now the EFR contract has come to an end, the battery will move to a more diverse range of ancillary services and we are grateful to be assisted in this by the market leading expertise of Arenko.”