Published: 17 Jun 2022, 10:24
Zenobē currently has has c.235MW of contracted storage assets and 1GW in development. Image: Zenobē
A 12MW/24MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) being developed by Zenobē and Swindon Borough Council’s development arm Public Power Solutions (PPS) has entered construction.
Located at the Waterside Innovation Hub in Swindon, the project is the first of its kind to be part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the two said.
The Waterside Innovation Hub itself includes a variety of different technologies, such as eight new double-headed electric vehicle (EV) charging points, a 2.5MW solar farm at a nearby landfill site and a solar canopy which is set to be installed later this year.
This hub marks a “significant step” in the council’s Net Zero Emissions Action Plan, it said.
Indeed, the Solar Together group-buying scheme recently launched in Swindon, while in January PPS entered into a co-development agreement with Hive Energy and Ethical Power targeting 250MW of solar and storage over the next three years.
The BESS itself is to be one of the first to enter the UK’s balancing mechanism market as well as providing frequency balancing services, the duo said, with the project set to go live in early 2023.
“Our battery supports Swindon’s forward-thinking shift to a low carbon economy and demonstrates how battery storage can make clean power more accessible,” said James Basden, co-founder and director of Zenobē.
Construction also began on Zenobē’s 50MW/100MWh BESS located in Wishaw, Scotland in April, with this said to be the first transmission connected battery in the country.
This site is expected to go live by the end of this year, with Centrica as the route to market provider, Fluence as the BESS supplier and H&MV as the principal designer and contractor.