Investor NTR has picked system integrator Fluence for a 55MW/110MWh BESS project in Finland, with grid-forming capabilities.
NTR has signed contracts with all the key equipment and contractor partners for the ready-to-build (RTB) Uusnivala battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
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The 2-hour BESS project is located in Nivala, Northern Ostrobothnia province, and will provide frequency regulation, grid balancing, grid-forming and energy shifting to the Finnish grid. NTR’s announcement did not give more details on what specific grid-forming applications it would provide, be it black start, synthetic inertia or voltage regulation.
Fluence will provide the BESS technology for the project with its Gridstack Pro 5000 solution, its 4.9-5.6 MWh 20-foot container-based DC block product, along with its asset performance management platform Nispera. It is gradually building up a strong pipeline in Finland, having struck deals for three projects with Germany-based investor MW Storage.
Engineering firms Despro and Nordic Electro Power have been appointed owners’ engineer and balance of plant (BOP) contractors, respectively, with Nordic providing BESS integration and 110kV substation
works.
The BESS was acquired by NTR’s L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund, a fund jointly managed with investor Legal & General (L&G). It acquired the Uusnivala project from developer OX2 in August 2024.
It is the fund’s second project in Finland after the 86.8MW Pajuperänkangas wind plant project, pictured above.
The BESS industry in Finland has picked up pace in the past few years as more solar and wind comes online creating opportunities in its ancillary services and wholesale energy market. In the past few months alone, large-scale projects have been finalised by Renewable Power Capital (RPC), Ingrid Capacity and Ardian Clean Energy Evergreen Fund (ACEEF).
