EDF inks PPA for solar-plus-storage site in UK

French energy company EDF has signed a PPA for all the energy to be supplied by the Benthead solar-plus-storage project in Scotland.

The site, which will feature an alternating-current-coupled 31 MW BESS co-located with a solar field, is being developed by Aukera Energy, which has Belgian private investor AtlasInvest as its lead backer.

Construction of the project, which will have a 63 MW grid connection, is set to begin next year. The PPA will last nine to 11 years, depending on the BESS commissioning date.

EDF will optimize performance of the BESS in wholesale energy, grid balancing, and grid-strengthening “ancillary” markets by using its PowerShift platform, which provides real-time operational and commercial support for grid flexibility assets via artificial intelligence, machine-learning algorithms, and industry insights.

Swiss consultancy Pexapark, which specializes in renewables PPA pricing, advised Aukera on the PPA and BESS-optimization agreements.

The project, in North Ayrshire, has a 15-year contract for difference (CfD) awarded in the sixth round of a UK government renewables incentive program. CfDs stipulate a “strike price” for renewable electricity. Clean energy generators sell power into the wholesale market and if the wholesale price they receive is lower than the strike price, the government will make good the difference. In the event of higher-than-strike-price wholesale returns, generators refund the difference to the government.

The United Kingdom’s Renewable Energy Planning Database indicates 40% of the nation’s solar and wind projects which are in advanced development – representing 10.6 GW of generation capacity – are co-located with BESS.

From pv magazine Spain.