Another edition of news in brief from the UK, as the National Energy System Operator pledges to improve Balancing Mechanism ‘skip rates’ and a 1GW project gets local authority approval.
Batteries to no longer be overlooked, says NESO
The UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) has set four “short term” actions to make a “meaningful impact” on skip rates, in response to an open letter from the Battery Storage Coalition.
First, it will release an updated dispatch algorithm in the control room, promising that from the start of November it will have “critical” new resource start in the control room.
By the middle of November, it will publish a definition created by consultancy LCP Delta, methodology and full report on skip rates and by the end of November, NESO said it will deploy new transparency tools.
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The group has committed to reconvening in December to review progress.
The Battery Storage Coalition’s letter criticised skip rates—the frequency with which the system operator skips over batteries to use more expensive methods in the Balancing Mechanism (BM)—claiming that skipping batteries holds back investment and drives up consumer bills. Data collected by the battery storage developers shows that some battery sites are skipped over during constrained periods 90% of the time.
In response to industry feedback, NESO also committed to further work on a number of code modifications, to review and clarify the ‘30-minute rule’ and to review balancing reserve and wider reserve procurement strategies.
To read the full version of this story, visit Solar Power Portal, where it first appeared.
1GW BESS project approved in Wales
A 1,000MW battery energy storage system (BESS) to be constructed alongside a data centre in Splott, Cardiff, has been unanimously approved by the city council.
It is purportedly the largest BESS to successfully secure planning permission so far in the UK.
The planning application was submitted in March this year for a 16.42 hectare area of land in the Tremorfa industrial area that formerly housed the steelworks and sewage treatment facilities.
The project, which had been recommended for approval, will comprise 828 high-efficiency containerised battery storage units with a substation central to the park. The facility will incorporate tree-planting and lower screen planting.
Planning and development consultancy GJP supported the application by Latos Data Centre Ltd & Tremorfa Energy Park Ltd, including the provision of an environmental impact assessment. Latos’ company website states that it “rises to creative and technical challenge” of delivering net zero data centres.
To read the full version of this story, visit Solar Power Portal, where it first appeared.
Quinbrook secures offtake agreements for largest consented solar-storage co-location project
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a global investment manager, has signed two long-term offtake agreements accounting for 100% of the solar power generated at Cleve Hill Solar Park.
Cleve Hill, a 373MW solar + 150MW battery storage project, and the largest consented development in the UK, is due to start operations in early 2025. The project was granted development consent in 2020 and was the first of its kind to be approved as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).
Quinbrook has signed two separate agreements for the development. The first, accounting for 65% of the expected solar generation from Cleve Hill, is a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with supermarket retailer Tesco, the largest solar corporate PPA executed in the UK to date.
Oil and gas company Shell has signed a ten-year route to market agreement to manage the remaining 35% of the development’s solar generation, which was secured by Quinbrook under a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) in July 2022.
Both offtake agreements provide long-term index-linked revenues for Cleve Hill, hedging against inflation and offering revenue certainty for investors. The deals are, according to Quinbrook managing director and UK regional lead Keith Gains, “testament to this landmark renewables project”.
Up to 10% of Tesco’s UK electricity demand will be met through the PPA, a “significant step” in the retailer’s journey to carbon neutrality by 2035, said Ken Murphy, group chief executive of Tesco.
To read the full version of this story, visit Solar Power Portal, where it first appeared.
