Renewable energy consultancy and service provider Natural Power has been appointed to support Zenobē’s 100MW Capenhurst battery energy storage project.
It will provide grid code compliance services for the battery in Chester once it becomes operational using its ControlCentre. This will include remote-control telephony, which will allow the asset to interface with the national grid.
Additionally, Natural Power will provide high voltage support services to the project’s 33kV network, including safety rules, 24/7 standby and systems, applications and products support for planned and reactive work.
Kevin Armstrong, head of ControlCentre at Natural Power, said it was fantastic to be supporting “this ground-breaking project”.
“Whilst our ControlCentre is a well-established resource, we’re continuing to broaden our support for new technologies, and will be further enhancing our dynamic grid balancing capabilities by optimising our ControlCentre resources and systems as well as further developing our services for both solar and battery energy storage client offerings.”
Zenobē began constructing Capenhurst in June 2021, and when complete it will be the largest transmission connected battery in Europe, according to the company. It is also expected to be the first to absorb reactive power directly from the grid in the world.
It follows the company using its 10MW King Barn battery energy storage facility to provide reactive power to National Grid ESO as part of the ‘world-first’ Power Potential Project in 2020.
Capenhurst was commissioned as a response to the project and is expected to be complete by summer 2022. It will then provide a secure power supply for the Mersey region including a reactive power service.
James Basden, co-founder and director at Zenobē, said Capenhurst provided “a great example of the pioneering solutions businesses like ours can bring to the table when industry innovation is encouraged by up-to-date legislation”.
“The Natural Power team brings leading grid code compliance services and a wealth of energy industry experience, helping us provide a reliable and secure reactive power service to the Mersey area. As we move to a cleaner energy system, batteries like this one will play a vital role in stabilising the grid, pushing energy prices down and ultimately enabling a greener, more sustainable Britain.”
National Grid ESO is increasingly looking to secure sources of reactive power, including running its Stability Pathfinder Programme, which led to the Power Potential Project as well as a number of companies securing contracts and a recent Grid Code modification.
Along with Natural Power providing support for Capenhurst, EDF was selected last year to optimise the asset across a variety of revenue streams including ancillary services such as Dynamic Containment, the Balancing Mechanism and wholesale optimisation.