Fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has made a final investment decision and moved to the construction phase of a 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system in Scotland, described by its backers as one of the largest in Europe.
The Coalburn-1 facility, located in South Lanarkshire, is the first project to be developed under a partnership between CIP and Alcemi, a UK grid network developer. Together, the pair intend to deploy 4GW of energy storage assets across the UK.
The partners have previously said Coalburn-1 would enter service in 2025. Its scale dwarfs a recently-energised Tesla-equipped 198MWh facility in England that was billed as the continent's largest currently in operation.
Final investment decisions on two other projects, with a combined capacity above 1GW will be taken next year, according to a statement released by CIP today (Tuesday).
Storage projects of this kind are designed to provide support to a UK grid network going through an energy transition that requires the rapid integration of renewable energy, CIP commented.
Denmark-based CIP said the Coalburn-1 project will reduce the need for fossil fuel power generation during periods of peak demand, helping to diminish carbon dioxide emissions and contributing to a more efficient grid system system.
"Achieving Final Investment Decision on one of the largest battery projects in Europe is a significant milestone for CIP. It demonstrates CIP’s industrial approach in identifying a market need and delivering a large-scale project with a robust contractual framework with high quality partners and counterparties,” wrote Nischal Agarwal, a partner at CIP.
Others involved in the project include Canadian Solar’s e-STORAGE unit, which will deliver a proprietary energy storage solution, SolBank. H&MV Engineering will undertake the balance of plant works and SSE Energy Markets will provide the optimisation services for the project, according to CIP.
The projects, currently in late-stage development, have planned energy storage capacities of between 300MW and 500MW each, with a storage duration of up to four hours. The partners said they are being developed at strategic locations that will support the transmission system by limiting the impact of network constraints.
CIP describes itself as the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind.
It currently manages 12 funds and focuses on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.
