Harmony Energy has lunched the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) in Europe, setting up base in Pillswood, East Yorkshire. The new £75m BESS has the capacity for enough energy to power 300,000 Yorkshire homes for two hours.
Managed by Tesla, the project timeline has accelerated to launch both necessary phases this month and begin operating. The BESS can store up to 196MWh of electricity in a single cycle and is designed to provide balancing services to the electricity grid network and facilitate the renewable energy transition.
“The completion and energisation of the Pillswood scheme… is the first of six similar projects the [Harmony Energy Income Trust] intends to deliver in the coming year,” said Peter Kavanagh, director of Harmony Energy. “Battery energy storage systems are essential to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy in the UK, and we hope this particular one highlights Yorkshire as a leader in green energy solutions.”
The Pillswood BESS uses Tesla Megapack technology and will optimise the efficiency of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind farms. Since renewable energy aren’t a constant source of energy, energy storage solutions are essential for maintaining consistent power supplies on a day-to-day basis. The BESS will balance services to the UK’s electricity grid by storing up to 196MWh or electricity which can be utilised at a given time.
Harmony Energy already has a series of follow-up projects in the pipeline, covering nine projects with a total capacity of 500MW/1GWh.
