Developer ib vogt has sold rights to a large-scale 1-hour duration battery storage project in Finland, Europe, to investor Renewable Power Capital (RPC).
The sale of the 50MW output, 50MWh capacity project rights comes after Germany-headquartered ib vogt, best known for its utility-scale solar PV development activities, progressed the project in the Southwestern Finnish municipality of Uusikaupunki to a ready-to-build status.
The developer said the project will provide “a variety of services” to Finland’s electricity network, including frequency regulation and energy trading in wholesale markets over its expected 30-year lifetime.
It marks the first entry into the Finnish battery energy storage system (BESS) market for buyer RPC, which will procure equipment and components as well as construct the project for expected completion in the last quarter of 2025.
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RPC is already active in the Nordic country’s renewables market primarily through investments in offshore wind. The renewables platform is backed by institutional investor CPP Investments, an arm of the Canada Pension Plan. CPP Investments invests money not needed for payouts to the pension fund’s 20 million or so contributors and beneficiaries.
‘Race against time’ in Finland to capture ancillary service revenues
It’s the latest in a number of large-scale BESS projects in Finland and the wider Nordic region, with Sweden also a growing market.
In late January, Energy-Storage.news covered French developer Neoen’s announcement of Yllikkälä Power Reserve Two (YPR2), a 56.4MW/112.9MWh BESS set to be Finland – and the Nordics’ – biggest project to date by megawatt-hours.
That project will be located close to Finland’s first large-scale BESS, a 30MW/30MWh also by Neoen. Henri Taskinen, CEO of BESS optimiser Capalo AI said the newer, larger project and its longer, 2-hour duration was notable of a shift towards longer durations in the Finnish market.
This was for two reasons, Taskinen said: new regulations around frequency response services that limit the amount shorter duration assets can bid into and a move towards a heavier emphasis on arbitrage in wholesale markets.
More recently, Energy-Storage.news Premium spoke with a couple of the folks behind another project in the country, a 38MW/40MWh BESS to be owned through a joint venture between equity investor Ardian and utility Lappeenrannan Energia.
The site heard that frequency control ancillary services prices in Finland are currently very high, while growing shares of variable renewable energy (VRE) generation are driving a fundamental need for more energy storage on the grid.
However, as with other markets, frequency markets are set to reach saturation sooner rather than later. That means there is, in the words of investment manager Aleksi Lumijärvi for e-Nordic on behalf of Ardian, “a race against time to bring batteries online to capture those revenues”.
Of the new project it has bought from ib vogt, Renewable Power Capital managing director of power markets and asset management Steven Hunter said that Finland has a “real need for battery storage at the moment,” which can provide stability to the grid that enables renewable energy deployment.
RPC recently also acquired its first ready-to-build BESS project in the UK on which it said construction is due to begin imminently. That follows the investor entering a UK partnership with BESS developer Greenfield targeting a portfolio of 500MW in Europe’s (currently) leading market.
This article has been amended from its original form to reflect that another UK BESS partnership from RPC, with developer Eelpower which was referred to did not continue beyond early stage discussions. An image featuring an Eelpower battery project has also been replaced with the above image of an ib vogt PV installation.
