Ørsted has commenced construction on its first large-scale UK battery energy storage system (BESS) near Norwich.
Situated alongside the Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm, the BESS will have a capacity of 600MWh and a 300MW power rating. This was noted as being the daily power consumption of 80,000 UK homes.
Preparatory works have been completed, with a golden shovel ceremony marking the beginning of construction. It is set to be operational by the end of 2026 and will become one of the largest battery energy storage systems in Europe in the process.
Beatrice d’Eufernia, Project Manager, said: “This is a very exciting project to be a part of, not only for Ørsted as it is our first large-scale battery installation in the UK, but also for the UK energy industry as this project involves two generators using one shared grid connection. Success here, opens up the possibilities for increased use of existing grid infrastructure in the UK, which is critical when there is a real issue of congestion in the network.”
