A roundup of recent large-scale BESS activity in the UK, with IPPs ContourGlobal, Zenobē and Revera buying or taking FID on three separate projects totalling 3.6GWh of capacity, all in Scotland.
ContourGlobal enters UK market with 500MW/2,000MWh Scottish BESS acquisition
IPP ContourGlobal has acquired a 500MW/2,000MWh battery energy storage project in Ayr, southwestern Scotland.
Acquired from UK developer New Energy Partnership, among other sellers, this marks the IPP’s first foray in the UK market with one of the largest BESS projects under development in the country.
The Wallace project has already secured planning consent, a land option and allocated Gate 2 status under the UK grid connection reform process.
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According to the IPP, Scotland represents one of Europe’s most active regions for hyperscale data center development.
The Wallace project will also be the company’s largest BESS project in its portfolio, following the recent commissioning of a solar-plus-storage asset in Chile that features a 200MW/1,300MWh BESS, as covered by Energy-storage.news. In the coming months, ContourGlobal will begin construction of another solar-plus-storage project in Arizona, the US, with a 360MW/1,400MWh BESS.
See the full original version of this article on Solar Power Portal.
Zenobē reaches financial close on four-hour Scottish BESS
BESS owner-operator Zenobē has reached financial close for its 200MW/800Mh Coalburn project in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The four-hour Coalburn BESS was approved in April last year. Financing comes from a group of international lenders, including Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), ABN AMRO, Mizuho and Siemens Financial Services. All of the financers were also participants in Zenobē’s 400MW battery project in Eccles.
Canadian Solar’s energy storage unit e-STORAGE will provide the battery systems and Omexom is delivering balance of plant works. Zenobē signed a 15-year tolling agreement with Drax for the project at the beginning of the year.
The Coalburn BESS is the first UK transmission-scale four-hour BESS to reach financial close, Zenobē said. A four-hour grid-scale site is live in Ireland, commissioned by Statkraft in February. Developer Aura Power has a 100MW/400MWh project with four-hour duration under development in Capenhurst, Cheshire.
See the full original version of this article on Solar Power Portal.
Carlyle-backed Revera takes FID on 800MWh BESS
Revera Energy has taken an FID for its 400MW/800MWh Hunterston BESS project in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
The IPP expects to start building the project in Q3 2026, one of three in Scotland it is building totalling 1GW/2GWh and £500 million of investment.
In March, it took FID on its 200MW/400MWh Windyhill BESS in Glasgow on which construction is already underway. The third, the 400MW/800MWh Kincardine project in Fife, is progressing to FID with construction expected to start in Q1 2027.
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney said: “Revera’s decision to commit to three major projects in Scotland, worth over £500 million, is a vote of confidence in this country’s skills, economic policies and energy future. This is one of the largest battery storage portfolios being built anywhere in the UK, and it demonstrates that Scotland is an internationally competitive destination for clean energy infrastructure investment.”
See the full original version of this article on Solar Power Portal.
