Arenko has signed a new contract to optimise Vattenfall’s 22MW/16MWh battery, the first battery storage site to be co-located with a wind farm in the UK.
The 228MW Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm in South Wales includes 500 BMW i3 automotive battery packs, housed in five shipping containers. This allows it to benefit from using the existing wind farm for grid export connection.
The site came online in May 2018 and was one of eight projects selected by National Grid to provide Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR), with a contract held till February 2022.
When this comes to an end, Arenko will optimise the site, using its automated dispatch software to maximise returns. This forecasts market solutions, and performs millions of simulations per day to assess trading decisions across markets, and then dispatch stored energy.
Jake Dunn, commercial manager at Vattenfall, said: “As the EFR contract comes to an end and the battery moves to a more diverse range of ancillary services, we are grateful to be assisted in this by the market leading expertise of Arenko.”
The agreement with Vattenfall follows Arenko partnering with Gore Street Energy Storage Fund to optimise a 10MW asset in February. At the time, this brought the company’s operational assets up to 51MW, with it also optimising the 41MW Bloxwich battery in the West Midlands that Arenko sold to Gresham House Energy Storage Fund for £20.1 million in July 2020.
Rupert Newland, founder and CEO of Arenko Group, said: “Arenko will be utilising our best-in-class asset optimisation services to enhance the returns from the battery asset in South Wales.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Arenko, and we look forward to delivering on the contract for Vattenfall and for other asset owners going forward.”