Zenobe, owner and operator of grid-scale batteries on the UK’s Great Britain transmission network, has announced commercial operations at Europe’s battery site in Blackhillock, Scotland.
The Blackhillock site will be launched in two phases. Phase 1 will include 200 MW which is operational and will be followed by a further 100 MW in 2026, making a total of 300 MW/600 MWh. The total capacity of the site is the equivalent of powering more than 3.1 million homes, substantially more than all the households in Scotland, for one hour.
Deliberately located between Inverness and Aberdeen to address grid congestion from Viking (443 MW), Moray East (950 MW) and Beatrice (588 MW) offshore wind farms, the project reduces the amount of wasted clean energy and will help achieve the UK government’s aim of net zero power grid by 2030.
The site is not only expected to save consumers over $219.86 million over the next 15 years but will also prevent approximately 2.6 million tons of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere during this period by integrating more wind power onto the transmission network.
Battery storage plays a critical role in the UK’s net zero transition with over 22 GW required as a minimum in the Government’s Clean Power 2030 Plan.
The Blackhillock site will provide Stability Services to the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to make renewable power more secure and reliable. Wartsila is supplying its Quantum energy storage system technology and GEMS Digital Energy Platform with SMA grid forming inverters for a resilient power system with high power quality.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) delivered the grid connection required for the site to harness the renewable energy on its transmission network.
EDF Wholesale Market Services will be the Route to Market provider for the site, through its trading platform, Powershift. The platform combined with Zenobe’s battery optimization experts will build more flexibility into the grid to reduce wind curtailment and accelerate the decarbonization of the network. Blackhillock will enhance the reliability of the UK’s growing renewable power system and help reduce consumer bills nationwide by integrating the technology.
