Wärtsilä partners with EDF for another 195 MWh of English batteries

Finnish engineer Wärtsilä has begun construction on two more English utility-scale batteries for French state-owned EDF Renewables UK and Ireland.

Having completed six BESS, with a total scale of 307 MW/514 MWh, for the energy company, Wärtsilä today revealed work has begun on a 47.5 MW/95 MWh site near the Cornish village of Indian Queens and on a 50 MW/100 MWh battery near Bredbury, in the metropolitan borough of Stockport.

The Bredbury site, in Greater Manchester in the north west of England, is due online this year and the Cornish project, in the South West, is expected to be operational in the first half of next year, Wärtsilä said.

The partnership with EDF has seen 50 MW/50 MWh BESS installed at Cowley, in Oxfordshire, and Kemsley, in Kent; and 50 MW/100 MWh sites in Coventry and Bustleholme, in the English Midlands, and at Sundon, in Bedfordshire. A 57 MW/114 MWh battery in Bramford, Suffolk, began operating in April.

All eight sites will be the subject of long-term service agreements by Wärtsilä and will also feature the engineer’s Gems controls and optimization software, to maximize revenue from energy trading and providing grid-strengthening “ancillary” services.

Quoted in a press release issued by Wärtsilä to announce the two new batteries, EDF Renewables UK and Ireland Head of Storage Simone Sullivan said, “By harnessing the power of data, we can provide stability to the grid with batteries that are performing as efficiently and predictably as possible. Making sure that the UK’s essential energy storage capacity is operating to its full potential reduces energy waste and ultimately ensures the fastest, most efficient transition to clean power.”