Habitat Energy, Centrica sign 189MW of UK battery storage optimisation deals

The battery energy storage system (BESS) projects are being built as part of Eelpower’s joint venture with the Swiss infrastructure fund manager SUSI Partners, which was signed last year. 

Habitat will manage the assets – which are located in Fordtown near Aberdeen, Scotland and Halesworth in Suffolk, England – using Eelpower’s bespoke Eel Dispatch platform, which was developed with KrakenFlex. The Fordtown asset will provide grid services to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and National Grid, and Halesworth will support UK Power Networks. 

The deal follows four years of collaboration, the companies said, but marks the first route-to-market agreement signed by Eelpower and Habitat.

“We have been close to the Habitat founders as they have pioneered the optimisation of UK battery storage trading while earning a first-class reputation for client service,” said Mark Simon, chief executive of Eelpower.

“We are delighted to be working with Habitat to maximise revenues in our landmark joint venture with SUSI Partners.”

The deal follows Eelpower selecting EDF as a trading and optimising partner for three of its batteries earlier this month. 

Habitat Energy was acquired by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in November 2021.

Centrica signs 10-year deal with Arlington Energy

Centrica Business Solutions has agreed a 10-year contract for the optimisation of three battery storage plants totaling 89MW, each with a one hour duration.

Developed by Arlington Energy with the backing of 4 Renewable Energy, the IPP arm of RGREEN INVEST, the three battery storage projects are currently under construction and are expected to be completed by summer 2022.

The agreement is one of the largest battery optimisation deals in the UK, according to Dan Connor, head of optimisation sales at Centrica Business Solutions, who added that is is a “significant development” in the goals of both Centrica Business Solutions and RGREEN INVEST of being leaders in the net zero transition.

Once commissioned, the battery energy storage systems (BESS) will provide flexibility to the energy system, helping to stabilise intermittent output from renewable energy sources and enabling security of supply.

This support is to be delivered through a combination of markets which help to manage grid frequency and energy trading to mitigate shortfalls in supply or demand through either short-term commodity markets or the Balancing Mechanism.

Centrica Business Solutions is to deliver this strategy on behalf of 4 Renewable Energy using its FlexPond platform, adapting the output of the battery in real time to deliver the most cost-effective use of the energy storage capacity at any one time. 

This approach maximises both the environmental impact of the assets and the return on investment of the projects, Centrica said.

“Providing confidence in the level of returns will bolster the significant interest and investment we are currently witnessing in the storage sector,” Connor said.

Centrica Business Solutions has also previously secured a battery optimisation agreement with Eelpower for the 10MW Leverton storage project, while in 2020 it partnered with domestic battery storage company sonnen, using its FlexPond platform to develop a virtual power plant.

At the beginning of this month, sister site Current± reported that another optimiser, Arenko, had been awarded contracts to optimise 455MW of battery storage for UK investor-developer Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, expanding an existing multi-year relationship between the pair.

These stories originally appeared as separate items on Current±.

Habitat-Eelpower story by Molly Lempriere

Centrica-Arlington story by Alice Grundy