CIP initiates construction of 2 GWh of battery storage in Scotland

Through its flagship fund CI IV, Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has taken the final investment decision (FID) and initiated the construction of two massive battery energy storage projects in Scotland.

Coalburn 2 is situated in South Lanarkshire, adjacent to CIP’s existing Coalburn 1 battery storage project, and Devilla is situated in Fife, near the town of Kincardine. Each project is sized at 500 MW and, once commissioned, will be among the largest battery storage projects in Europe.

These two projects represent an investment of approximately GBP 800 million ($987 million). They expand CIP’s UK BESS construction portfolio from one to three projects and make CIP the largest battery storage investor in the United Kingdom.

The CIP BESS portfolio (Coalburn 1, Coalburn 2, and Devilla) will have total power capacity of 1.5 GW and will be able to store and supply the grid with a total of 3 GWh of electricity.

In February 2022, CIP’s CI IV fund entered a partnership with Alcemi, a large-scale BESS developer, to develop a UK wide portfolio of battery storage projects to FID. CIP’s FID for Coalburn 2 and Devilla comes approximately one year after an equivalent decision for Coalburn 1. This project broke ground in December 2023 and is expected to connect to the grid in October 2025.

Battery technology provider e-STORAGE, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, is supplying all three projects. For Coalburn 2 and Devilla, e-STORAGE will install approximately 450 SolBank 3.0 battery containers. It will also support the long-term facility performance and operational management of the projects under a long-term service agreement with CIP. 

H&MV Engineering and the OCU Group have been contracted to supply Balance of Plant and electrical engineering services for Coalburn 2 and Devilla respectively. Wood Group is providing construction management services for both Coalburn 2 and Devilla sites.

“CIP’s latest investments in Scottish battery energy storage will support the UK’s pursuit of a clean power system by 2030 and delivering a net zero carbon economy by 2050. Well located battery storage, such as our Coalburn and Devilla projects enhance energy security, provide the grid with much-needed flexibility and enable low-cost renewables to be deployed faster,” said Nischal Agarwal, partner at CIP.

Scotland has been growing its fleet of grid-scale battery storage projects in leaps and bounds. Last November, it gave a planning consent to Europe’s largest battery energy storage project – the 900 MW/1.8 GWh facility in Perth and Kinross developed by EcoDev (Alyth).

In its decision letter green lighting the Alyth BESS project, the Scottish government said grid-scale battery storage facilities can make “a significant contribution” to renewable energy generation targets and harnessing generation that might otherwise be curtailed.  

The United Kingdom experienced record curtailment costs in 2024, exceeding GBP 1 billion, largely due to the need to turn down wind generation assets. In 2023, Scotland was home to around 39% of UK wind generating capacity and 5% of European capacity, according to government figures, but accounts for only 8% of the UK population.