Anesco given green light for 50MW storage facility in Essex

Anesco has received approval from Brentwood Borough Council to develop a 50MW battery storage facility in Essex.

Located on a two-hectare site adjacent to a 132kV substation, the energy storage system will comprise of 28 battery container units and offer flexibility services to National Grid that support the UK’s transition to renewable energy.

Alan Smallwood, who heads up Anesco’s Revenue Optimisation team, commented: “Once in place, the Brentwood battery storage facility will have the potential to generate revenue in a number of different ways, by supporting National Grid to balance the UK’s energy system and to maintain grid frequency, ultimately reducing the total cost for the end consumers.

“This includes Ancillary Services, which reward battery operators for supporting grid stability by helping keep grid frequency at required levels. One such service being Dynamic Containment, one of the newest services to be launched by National Grid ESO, which is designed to act rapidly when triggered by a fault on the system, to catch and ‘contain’ the resulting deviation in frequency. And of course, there is the Balancing Mechanism, which ensures there remains an almost equal amount of energy supply and demand.”

The installation will have a lifespan of 40 years, after which time it will be returned to its natural state. Significant ecological enhancements will be made to the site, including the planting of trees, hedges and wildflowers, the creation of additional scrubland, and improvements to an existing pond, along with the addition of a further three new ponds.

Mark Futyan, Anesco CEO, commented: “We’re delighted to receive approval for the Brentwood site. Energy storage has a vital role to play in the UK’s evolving energy network. It provides the flexibility needed to support the switch to renewable power, offering a solution to the intermittency this can mean for the grid.”

He continued: “Biodiversity is something we focus heavily on at Anesco and the site will benefit from a number of improvements, including substantial landscaping and planting, to create habitats for some of the most at-risk species. In addition, we’re providing information boards for educational purposes and will be working closely with the local community to provide additional benefits throughout the lifetime of the development.”

Anesco has more than 430MW of new solar and storage projects in planning or at the ready to build stage, with a total pipeline exceeding 2GW, while its O&M team is managing more than 1.1GW of renewable energy assets.

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