Metlen scales BESS across UK, Italy, Greece and Central and Eastern Europe

Metlen has signed a balance-of-plant contract with UK developer Pulse Clean Energy for the 129 MW/362 MWh Penn BESS project in the West Midlands, England – the largest battery storage project the company has undertaken in the United Kingdom to date.

The scope includes grid-connection works, with energization targeted for the end of 2027. Metlen says it has now delivered or is working on approximately 30 storage units across the United Kingdom, representing nearly 2 GWh of capacity.

In Italy, the Greek energy group secured €18 million ($20.9 million) in long-term financing for a 25 MW/75 MWh BESS in Apulia, in the province of Brindisi, now fully operational. The project benefits from a seven-year physical tolling agreement with Dolomiti Energia Group, which Metlen describes as one of the first deals of its kind in the Italian storage market.

In Greece, Metlen’s 330 MW/790 MWh standalone BESS in Thessaly – the largest such project planned to date in the country and one of the largest in Europe, according to the companies – has been integrated into the national transmission system. The project is a joint venture with Karatzis Group.

Separately, Metlen completed the 48 MW/96 MWh Aenaos project in Polygyros, Halkidiki, implemented under Greece’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan with funding from the EU’s NextGenerationEU instrument.

Metlen and Greek utility PPC agreed in March to form an equally owned joint venture targeting up to 1.5 GW/3 GWh of two-hour, liquid-cooled lithium-iron-phosphate storage in Romania, Bulgaria and Italy. Project sites, investment figures, and a country-by-country capacity split have not been disclosed.