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Europe’s biggest battery energy storage system now online
A new energy storage system in the UK, which has the capacity to store up to 196 MWh of electricity in a single cycle, has been successfully energised.Developed by Harmony Energy and employing a Tesla two-hour Megapack system, the Pillswood project, near Hull, can store enough electricity to power around 300,000 homes for two hours. Reportedly Europe’s biggest battery energy storage system, the project will provide critical balancing services to the UK electricity grid network.
Construction of the project, which has been managed by Tesla, was originally intended to become operational over two phases in December 2022 and March 2023. However, the timetable has accelerated to enable both phases to energise in November, in time to support National Grid in its efforts to provide stable and secure power to UK households this winter.
The project will be operated through Autobidder, Tesla’s algorithmic trading platform, which also manages Harmony Energy’s Holes Bay and Contego battery storage projects.
The Pillswood site is located adjacent to National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation, the same connection point proposed for phases A and B of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Dogger Bank, which is set to go live on the first phase in Summer 2023.
Batteries enable National Grid to maximise the efficiency of wind farms by reducing the amount of time a wind farm needs to be switched off, ‘curtailed’, due to supply/demand imbalances or network constraints.
