ESB Scotland has signed letters of intent with American Energy Storage Innovations (AESI) in relation to three battery energy storage system (BESS) projects currently under development.
At the RE+ clean energy conference in Anaheim, California, it was announced that AESI will supply 1.5 GW of TeraStor BESS units worth the High Nether Faul Farm BESS project and the Gretna and Harker substations.
The High Nether Faul Farm project, located in Lanarkshire, Scotland, is the largest planned installation of the three, with plans to host 1GW/2GWh of BESS capacity in the form of 312 TeraStor units, with a planned commissioning date of Q4 2028.
Meanwhile, the Gretna Substation Project involves the installation of 500 MW/1 GWh BESS across 156 units, with a planned commissioning date of the fourth quarter of 2030, while the Harker Substation Project, also scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2030, the installation will see 371 MW/742 MWh. spread over 116 units.
The Harker substation will form the future connection point of one of Britain’s largest BESS projects: the Harker BESS is currently being developed by Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy and North East England-based developer Windel Energy. It has an expected capacity of 200 MW/400 MWh and a run time of 2 hours. The Harker substation, located near Carlisle, will provide the connection point between the project and the National Grid.
James Ewart, Managing Director of ESB, commented: “TeraStor is exactly what we need to achieve our energy storage goals efficiently and reliably. Its flexibility, ease of installation and impressive lead times make it perfect for our projects. AESI’s solution not only saves us time, but also ensures that we maximize our capital investments. We are excited to see these projects come to life.”
Bud Collins, CEO of AESI, added: “We are delighted to be working with ESB on these groundbreaking projects. The reliability, flexibility and cost-saving benefits of TeraStor make it easy for our customers to deploy a powerful BESS that optimizes their profitability from day one.”
Earlier this year, ESB was granted planning permission for a new wind-plus-storage project near Lairg in the Scottish Highlands. The Chleansaid Wind Farm project will combine approximately 96 MW of wind energy with a BESS of 20 MW, and is expected to begin construction in 2026 and be completed in 2027.
