The Carnegie Road project will help grid operator National Grid to manage grid stability during fluctuations between peak and low power demand. It will not be directly connected to a wind farm, Ørsted confirmed.
The project was initially developed by Shaw Energi and has planning permission and its grid connection already secured, the Danish developer stated.
Construction work is due to start in May and the project is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
NEC Energy Solutions (NEC ES), which is part of the Japanese conglomerate NEC Corporation, and which has installed five energy storage systems across the UK, will supply the 20MW battery system.
Ryan O’Keefe, head of energy storage and solar at Ørsted, said: "As batteries have a very high frequency response capability we believe they’ll play an important role in providing services for the support of the stability of the power grid.
"The demand for these services is likely to grow in the UK as the country is expected to decommission large parts of its carbon-based generation fleet and introduce more renewables generation."
Storage systems
Carnegie Road will be Ørsted’s first large-scale battery project, but the developer has previously explored energy storage as an ancillary service.
Last year, it announced plans to test energy storage by installing a 2MW battery system at its 90MW Burbo Bank offshore project, some 12 kilometres west of Carnegie Road. Installation is "progressing according to plan", an Ørsted spokesman told Windpower Monthly, and confirmed that the battery solution is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2018.
Matthew Wright, managing director of Ørsted UK, added: "The future energy system will be completely transformed from what it is today, with a smarter, more flexible grid, balancing supply and demand with new technology and cleaner energy generation."
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