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National Grid has connected a 100MW battery project to the grid at its Richborough substation in Kent.
The 100MW/100MWh Richborough Energy Park battery is built on brownfield land previously occupied by a coal-fired power station.
It was developed by Pacific Green and owned by the Milan-based investment manager Sosteneo Energy Transition Fund.
Prior to connection, National Grid upgraded its Richborough substation to accommodate new switchgear and installed new protection and control systems on its supergrid transformer, plugging in the project via a tertiary connection.
Richborough substation already hosts the connection for National Grid’s own 1GW Nemo Link interconnector with Belgium, while Thanet Offshore Wind Farm – the world’s biggest at the time of its launch – also connects into an adjacent substation on the wider Richborough Energy Park site.
Stuart Jones, portfolio director for the customer connection south region at National Grid Electricity Transmission, said: “Battery storage has a crucial role to play in delivering a net zero energy system in Britain, so connecting projects like Pacific Green’s at Richborough Energy Park to our transmission network marks key progress on our country’s clean energy journey.
“Given the Richborough site’s history, it’s apt that it’s becoming a pivotal part of our network for the energy transition, with our substation connecting clean electricity projects like batteries and interconnectors – all of which are helping Britain harness increasing volumes of renewable power into the future.”
Scott Poulter, chairman and chief executive of Pacific Green, added: “It’s been a pleasure to work with the National Grid to develop Richborough Energy Park, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with many more projects to come.
“Having taken control of the site in 2021, I’m proud at the speed and efficiency with which my team has steered the project to financial close in summer 2022, first energisation a year later, full energisation last month, and now into commercial operation.”
The Richborough site played host to a coal power station from the early 60s through to 1996, and stood until its demolition in 2012.
Richborough was also host to an experimental 1MW wind turbine in the late eighties, which at the time was the UK’s largest.
National Grid announced earlier this year that it is bringing forward the connection dates for 10GW of batteries under a new approach that allows them to connect to the transmission network before non-essential grid upgrades are completed.
In total, 19 battery storage projects will benefit from the new arrangements. On average, they will be offered plug in dates four years earlier than their current agreements.
Almost 85GW of battery storage projects are now operational, under construction, consented or in planning or development, according to the latest figures from Renewable UK.
The trade body said the pipeline has swelled by more than two-thirds over last year from 50.3GW to 84.8GW.
This includes 3.5GW of operational battery storage and 3.8GW that is under construction. A further 24.5GW of projects are consented and 27.4GW are currently seeking planning permission. There are also 25.7GW of projects in pre-planning development.
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