Scotland will house Europe’s biggest grid-connected battery storage installations

The Scottish Green Battery Complex will be built by Amp Energy, a Toronto-based global energy transition platform. They will be Europe’s two biggest grid-connected battery storage installations, Electrek.co writes.

The Scottish Green Battery Complex, which will be located between Hunterston and Kincardine, will store and manage the distribution of electricity produced by Scottish wind farms. They will deliver dependable grid stability and power control services across central Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The portfolio, which received planning permission from the Scottish government on January 5, is scheduled to come online in April 2024 and will consist of two 400 MW battery installations, each with 800 MWh of energy storage capacity.

On January 17, Electrek reported that Crown Estate Scotland, which staged Scotland’s largest-ever auction of offshore wind licenses, picked 17 projects with a total capacity of 25 GW in its ScotWind Leasing round.

As a result, large-scale energy storage that can transfer electricity and offer grid stability services is becoming more important.

The Scottish Green Battery Complex will allow up to 1,750 GWh of extra clean energy to be produced in Scotland and delivered to other parts of the UK each year, which is comparable to allowing around 500 MW of new offshore wind installations.

The Hunterston and Kincardine projects will also be considered for the National System’s Scottish Stability Pathfinder phase 2 procurement, which aims to solve voltage and stability concerns in the UK power grid.

According to  National Grid  ESO, as conventional coal and gas facilities are phased out of the British energy system, transmission line short circuit levels are decreasing. Renewable generators like wind and solar link to the grid in a different method, which does not provide the same level of stability.

“As a result, we need to identify new suppliers to assist with system support.”

This is wise because, in addition to sustainable energy, battery storage and energy control are required. Renewable energy and battery storage must coexist.