Norway’s Eco Stor enters Finland’s battery market

Norwegian energy storage company Eco Stor has said the 50 MW/50 MWh grid-connected BESS it is constructing in Finland is set to be the precursor to similar projects in the nation.

Quoted in a press release issued on Wednesday to announce the Finnish BESS, Eco Stor Chief Executive Trygve Burchardt said, “The Finnish BESS market is expanding, supported by high expected growth of onshore wind and solar power. Our objective is to utilize the Isokangas project as a stepping stone towards building more BESS projects in Finland.”

The initial Eco Stor battery, at Isokangas, near the central Finnish industrial town of Uleåborg, will have the option of being expanded to 100 MWh of energy storage capacity, and is due online next year.

The BESS is being installed near a Fingrid electricity substation which is on the 380 km Aurora Line interconnector between Finland and Sweden. Land leases have been secured through 2039 and can be extended beyond that point.

Upon completion of the project, Eco Stor will be a co-owner of the site along with the Å Energi hydropower company which will hold the biggest share of the project – and which is Eco Stor’s main shareholder – Norwegian investor and fellow Eco Stor shareholder Farvatn; and Finnish energy storage business AmpTank.

Eco Stor last year divested its German grid-scale BESS operation – and a multi-gigawatt project pipeline – to the X-Elio developer owned by Canadian investor Brookfield, and to private equity investor Nature Infrastructure Capital.