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Battery storage investments will switch off Shetland’s power station and scatter hundreds of community-scale batteries across the UK
13/8/2025
News
Two new energy storage initiatives are set to enhance the UK’s power security and decarbonisation drive. Wärtsilä is to supply a 68 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Shetland that will back up the islands’ grid and boost renewables integration. Meanwhile, the National Wealth Fund is investing £50mn in AMP Clean Energy to roll out hundreds of community-scale batteries, reinforcing local networks and enabling cleaner energy for homes, businesses and essential services.
The Shetland BESS is to be delivered to UK grid-scale battery storage operator Zenobē. It will enable the diesel-fired Lerwick power station to ‘move into a standby role, cutting fossil fuel use and helping integrate more renewable energy from Shetland’s abundant wind resources as the islands transition to a cleaner, more resilient power system’, explains Wärtsilä. ‘In the event of an outage or planned maintenance on the transmission line to mainland Scotland, the BESS will maintain uninterrupted power to Shetland’s homes and businesses.’ Construction of the islands’ first HDVC power cable was completed last year, around the same time as the 443 MW Viking onshore wind farm came online. The new BESS system is scheduled to go live in 2026.
The battery system is said to feature innovative technologies including distribution fault ride through (DFRT) capabilities and standby solution services to support Shetland’s mainland interconnector. ‘With a power output that exceeds Shetland’s local load, the system will provide a crucial buffer against grid instability, enabling a secure and decarbonised energy future for the islands,’ Wärtsilä says.
The Shetland Standby Project marks the third major battery partnership between Wärtsilä and Zenobē. Another, the 200 MW/400 MWh project in Blackhillock, Scotland, went live in March 2025 and will be one of the largest operating battery energy storage systems in Europe. The company reports that it will also be the first in the world to provide deliver a suite of active and reactive power services using a transmission-connected battery. ‘Our batteries at Blackhillock are the first to use advanced power electronics to enable a much higher uptake of renewable power on the grid. This dramatically reduces costs to consumers and increases reliability,’ says Zenobē.
A 300 MW/600 MWh project in Kilmarnock, Scotland, is also in development and due to be commissioned by the end of 2025.
At the small end of the scale, the National Wealth Fund (NWF) has partnered with Asterion to back UK grid flexibility through a £50mn investment in AMP Clean Energy.
The financing will support AMP’s development of hundreds of Battery Box sites, offering a solution to storing energy close to local communities and providing essential flexibility to the grid. These micro-scale batteries, 200kW/800kWh, with a footprint of 24m2 (excluding secondary grid connection), link into the local distribution network and strategically placed near demand centres such as homes, schools and hospitals to support local energy usage.
The investment will also accelerate AMP’s work to decarbonise hard-to-abate commercial and industrial sectors, by providing low-carbon heating solutions at scale.
