UK energy major Centrica has activated two battery energy storage systems (BESS) totalling 40MW in Sweden, which its route-to-market (RTM) subsidiary will optimise.
The two battery storage systems, energised earlier this month in partnership with global energy solutions provider Omexom, mark Centrica’s entry into the Swedish battery storage market. The company, which owns the utility British Gas, also, somewhat unusually, claimed it was the latest step in its multi-billion-pound investment plan to support the UK’s energy transition.
Located in Borlänge, southern Sweden, the installations are expected to deliver around 21,900MWh of annual output. The assets will provide grid flexibility services to balance fluctuations in electricity production and consumption across Sweden’s increasingly renewable-heavy power system.
The company’s energy trading subsidiary Centrica Energy will optimise the market participation of both assets, adding to its RTM portfolio in Europe of over 770MW. Centrica noted that battery storage output can be adjusted in real time, delivering cost-effective energy storage that maximises the utilisation of green electricity available to the grid while securing stable returns on investment.
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“As we continue to scale our significant investment in low-carbon flexibility, battery storage will play a vital role in helping us transition to a more sustainable energy system,” said Dave Kirwan, managing director of Centrica Power.
“Storing renewable energy when it’s available, and using it when the grid needs support, benefits everyone.”
The deployment follows a delivery partnership with Omexom, which served as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project.
Omexom’s teams will manage the operational phase of the site over the next ten years, providing ongoing technical oversight following several months of engineering, system integration and commissioning activities, including grid compliance and performance testing.
“Omexom teams are proud to have supported Centrica as EPC on this strategic project,” said Thibault Fauquant, business unit manager of Omexom Conversion & Storage, and Kristoffer Ekman, business unit manager of Omexom Göteborg Renewable Energies.
“This energisation represents the culmination of several months of engineering, system integration, and commissioning activities. This milestone not only reflects the success of a multicultural project delivered through close collaboration with all parties involved but also marks the start of the site’s operational phase.”
Sweden’s expanding battery storage landscape
Centrica’s entry into Sweden comes as the Nordic country experiences growing interest in battery storage deployment to support grid stability amid rising renewable energy penetration.
The Swedish market has attracted multiple international players seeking to capitalise on opportunities created by variable wind and solar generation. The ancillary services market, which is pooled between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to maintain grid frequency at 50Hz, has proven lucrative in the past couple of years, although it will eventually saturate.
Indeed, recent developments include vehicle-to-grid specialist Nuvve, which last year launched a 75MWh battery storage system in the country. At the time, Nuvve claimed that Sweden was “one of Europe’s most attractive markets”.
More recently, BESS developer-operator Ingrid Capacity and investor SEB Nordic Energy Fund, via its Locus Energy arm, inaugurated a 12MW/12MWh BESS in Rättvik Municipality, Sweden.
Centrica, the parent company of UK utility British Gas, said the investment in Sweden is the latest step in a broader £4 billion (US$5.43 billion) investment programme announced in 2023 to support the UK energy transition through technologies including nuclear, hydrogen, solar power and battery storage.
A company announcement did not make it clear how the projects in Scandinavia directly benefit UK decarbonisation investments. Energy-Storage.news has reached out to Centrica for clarification on this point and has asked for further details on the assets’ market participation. This story will be updated in due course upon receipt of a response.
While the investment programme is primarily UK-focused, the company’s European battery optimisation activities extend across multiple markets, leveraging Centrica Energy’s technical capabilities in real-time asset management and market participation.
