Wärtsilä and SSE team up to boost grid with giant battery
Wärtsilä has joined forces with UK energy giant SSE to build a low-carbon 50 MW/ 100 MWh energy storage system in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
The battery will be the first connected directly to the transmission network by SSE’s new solar and battery division.
It will support access to clean, reliable energy by balancing the intermittency of renewables – and help ensure the country has sufficient storage to meet am ambitious ramp-up in the UK’s wind and solar output.
The purchase was booked to Wärtsilä’s order intake in April 2022 and the system is expected to become operational in September 2023.
The energy storage system will support the UK’s national grid with reliable services such as wholesale market trading, crucial for balancing renewable energy generation throughout the day.
The country’s energy storage pipeline has doubled within the past year – as the UK scales up its renewable capacity.
Kenneth Engblom, Vice President of Europe and Africa, Wärtsilä Energy said: “The UK can capitalise on its massive potential for renewable energy by building more of it right now, but energy storage must not be overlooked – effectively balancing the intermittency of renewables is the missing part of the net zero puzzle.”
“If properly deployed, energy storage will enable the grid to deal with fluctuations in renewable energy supply and ensure that the end users of energy have secured power supply as we switch to cheaper, cleaner energy.”
Richard Cave-Bigley, SSE’s Director of Solar and Battery, said: “Battery storage has a key role to play in helping the UK to decarbonise by ensuring we make the most of the increasing levels of renewable energy coming onto the grid.”
Wärtsilä is currently installing similar sized energy storage systems across the UK, and its modelling suggest storage capacity will need to dramatically rise to 18 GW by 2035 to manage the transition.