The Energy Storage Report 2024

Now available to download, covering deployments, technology, policy and finance in the energy storage market

Penso Power and Luminous Energy get green light for five-hour BESS project in UK

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Welbar Energy Storage joint venture – made up of Penso Power and Luminous Energy – has secured planning permission for a 350MW connection capacity battery storage development with a five-hour duration in the UK.

The project in Hams Hall, North Warwickshire, includes approval for more than 1,750MWh of battery storage, with the lithium-ion battery asset having scope for more than five hours of duration.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Penso Power said it will provide a broad range of services to support Britain’s electricity grid, including the potential to provide longer duration services.

A report from Aurora Energy Research in February suggests up to 24GW of Long Duration Energy Storage will be needed by 2035 to allow the grid to completely decarbonise. The need to develop within this sector is gaining increasing attention, including the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy unveiling nearly £7 million in funding to support its development earlier this year.

Speaking to our sister site Solar Power Portal recently, Richard Thwaites, CEO of Penso Power said: “So with our model, we definitely see a scale benefit of larger projects. That’s on connection costs, deployment costs, procurement, also ongoing operations and options for routes to market. So we think large projects make a lot more sense from a financial point of view.”

Hams Hall – which sits east of Birmingham and close to the M6 Toll – is part of a more than 3GWh pipeline of projects being funded by global maritime group BW Group, following an agreement announced by Penso Power in October 2021.

Penso Power, Luminous Energy and BW Group will all become joint shareholders in the development of the Hams Hall project, with the former also overseeing it when it becomes operational.

“Now more than ever the UK needs to take back control over its energy supply,” said David Bryson of Luminous Energy.

“Energy storage is critical in supplying affordable, clean power, while also enhancing the UK’s grid reliability. This project, one of a pipeline we have in development, will also contribute financially to sustainable and green initiatives locally.”

Penso Power has previously developed the 100MW Minety battery energy storage system (BESS), which entered into full operation in July 2021. The site consists of two 50MW batteries, with plans in place to expand the site by a further 50MW.

The company is looking to continue to target larger scale, longer duration battery energy storage going forwards.

“I’m amazed that we’re still seeing one hour duration projects, seeing them going into planning. I can’t see why someone would do a one hour duration project. It is so limiting in terms of what you can do with it,” added Thwaites.

Luminous Energy meanwhile specialises in the development of large-scale solar and battery energy storage projects, having brought over 1GW of projects to market across four continents. This includes a number of projects in the UK, such as the Llwyndyrus solar farm in Wales which it sold to Blackfinch Energy in 2019.

This story first appeared on Solar Power Portal.

24 April 2024
11am PDT / 2pm EDT
This webinar explores the advantages of the metal-hydrogen technology and how it is being packaged into turnkey solutions for project integrators across the globe. We will also highlight the developing long-duration-energy-storage market and identify which technologies are ready to address the demanding needs of an evolving electrical grid.

Read Next

March 27, 2024
The energy storage arm of EV supercar technology firm Rimac has opened its UK innovation and manufacturing facility, where it will build the first units of its SineStack BESS platform.
March 26, 2024
UK-based energy company Statera Energy has secured planning consent for a 290MW/1,740MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to be developed in Southwest England.
March 25, 2024
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is funding trial deployments of two different non-lithium battery technologies at microgrids in Western Australia.
March 22, 2024
Harmony Energy and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) have energised a 99MW/198MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Essex.
March 22, 2024
Gotion High Tech has continued its push into Japan’s battery storage market, forming a partnership with investor Daiwa and renewable energy engineering and O&M firm CO2OS.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter