Two Finland BESS project announcements, with Exilion ordering grid-forming energy storage technology from Merus Power and Nala Renewables ordering units from Sungrow for 2-hour systems.
Exilion to build 30MW/66MWh BESS with Merus Power tech
Investor Exilion has signed an agreement with power solutions firm Merus Power for a 30MW/66MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Kuortti, Mäntyharju, Eastern Finland.
The value of the order is around €17 million (US$19.7 million) and the project is aiming for completion in 2026. Merus Power also acted as project developer.
The BESS technology deployed will use grid-forming technology, supporting the grid’s natural inertia and enhancing the stability of the power system. A grid-forming BESS can independently maintain voltage and frequency on the grid, whereas a non-grid-forming can only follow those that the grid is already operating at. That means it can kickstart the grid after a blackout, for example.
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It comes after Merus and another customer, Swiss-based energy firm Alpiq, commissioned a 30MW/36MWh project in Finland, announced in late October. That was grid-forming too, along with one a 38MW/43MWh one completed in May this year for a separate customer.
Merus Power is a system integrator, buying containerised BESS units from OEMs and deploying those in projects together with its in-house manufactured power conversion system (PCS) technology.
The project is significant for Merus as it is its first 2-hour system in the Finnish market, explained Markus Ovaskainen, sales director for the company.
“That is in line with how the market is developing. I think our whole offer book is pretty much 2-hour projects now, the market is shifting. Investors are thinking beyond just frequency regulation markets to capacity markets and arbitrage,” he said.
“In the last two years capacity market (CM) prices have gone up and concerns about frequency regulation markets has increased.”
Ancillary service prices have not yet fallen in any significant manner, Ovaskainen said, but it is becoming clear from the publicly available data that BESS capacity will soon exceed the reserves needed by TSO Fingrid. See recent Finnish BESS project news here.
At last year’s Energy Storage Summit EU 2024 in London last month, put on by our publisher Solar Media, Ovaskainen discussed the company’s grid-forming solution and what is driving the need for it in Finland.
Nala Renewables starts building Sungrow-supplied BESS project
In related news, IPP Nala Renewables has started building a 50MW/100MWh BESS project in Kauhava, Finland, provided by energy storage and power conversion system (PCS) manufacturer Sungrow.
Bank Societe Generale is providing the long-term finance for the project which is expected to come online by the end of 2026, and it will be built by construction firm KSBR.
Sungrow will supply 22 5MWh units of its PowerTitan 2.0 BESS. Once operational, commodities firm Trafigura will trade the BESS. Nala is a joint venture between Trafigura and funds managed by IFM Investors.
Mike O’Neill, chief executive officer of Nala Renewables said: “We are delighted to be breaking ground on Nala’s first project in Finland, which we see as a strategically important market for BESS in Europe. We are especially pleased to involve Trafigura’s energy trading business in the project, supporting a more resilient and flexible grid in Finland.”
“This project is using market leading technology to accelerate the transition to clean energy in Finland – contributing to reserve markets and featuring grid-forming capabilities that enhance overall network stability.”
