Europe’s largest battery energy storage system (BESS), the 100MW Minety site, is now fully operation Shell Energy has announced.
The site consists of two 50MW batteries developed by Penso Power and funded by China Huaneng Group and CNIC Corporation. Shell Energy Europe signed a multiyear offtake agreement for the Wiltshire site in early 2020.
Its subsidiary Limejump will optimise the BESS, trading power from Minety into a number of services including National Grid ESO’s Dynamic Containment.
“Flexible storage and supply systems such as Minety have an essential role in balancing supply and demand – especially as renewable power sources become increasingly central to the UK’s energy needs,” David Wells, VP Shell Energy Europe, said.
In March 2020, Penso announced it was expanding the Minety site by 50MW to its current capacity.
As more renewables connect to Britain’s grid, the need for energy storage is growing. Therefore more large-scale BESS’s are coming forwards, for example Zenobe Energy unveiled a 100MW project in Capenhurst, Chester in April.
“Delivering the Minety project during COVID-19 has been an amazing team effort, and with our colleagues at Shell, we can now focus on optimising Minety’s performance and supporting National Grid ESO,” said Catherine Newman, CEO of Limejump.