Kona Energy Will Develop 200 MW Battery

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British energy storage developer Kona Energy has recently secured permission to plan and develop a 200 MW battery at Heysham on Morecambe Bay in Lancashire. Once developed the battery will also replace local grid services due to be lost when the Heysham 1 and 2 nuclear reactors are decommissioned, in 2024 and 2028. Besides, the battery will reduce curtailment of electricity from six offshore wind farms. When constructed, the project will be one of the largest in Europe, saving 45,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum, the equivalent of taking 15,000 cars off the road per year.

Forming part of Kona’s wider 1GW portfolio, the site has been strategically located to participate in multiple energy markets. Situated at the landing point of six offshore wind farms, including one of the world’s largest, the Walney wind farm, this project will help to alleviate grid constraint, reduce energy bills and increase the utilisation of renewable energy.

The press release has quoted Kona founder Andy Willis as saying that the battery would be in an area which suffers regular curtailment of wind power and “other low carbon technologies”: the B7a constraint boundary. “Roughly GBP 1 billion ($1.25 billion) was spent in the last year curtailing energy from wind farms and other generators, replacing that need elsewhere – usually from fossil-fuel [-powered] stations,” said Willis adding, “Tackling this enormous waste of both money and energy is crucial.” Kona Energy will provide a financial contribution to a local nature reserve to improve biodiversity and habitat protection in the area, with another to a local community fund.

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Aside from managing increasing grid constraints, the battery system will provide crucial local grid services, in the form of inertia and reactive power support. This will be increasingly important following the closure of the Heysham nuclear power stations in 2024 and 2028. The London-based company’s website states that Kona is also developing a 500 MW pipeline of UK energy storage projects.