Revera Energy has made a final investment decision (FID) for its 400MW/800MWh Hunterston battery energy storage system (BESS) project in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
The IPP expects to start construction on the project, one of three in Scotland it is building, in the third quarter of 2026, totaling 1 GW/2 GWh and £500 million in investment.
In March it took over FID on its 200MW/400MWh Windyhill BESS in Glasgow, where construction is already underway. The third, the 400MW/800MWh Kincardine project in Fife, is progressing to FID with construction expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney said: “Revera’s decision to commit to three major projects in Scotland, worth more than £500 million, is a vote of confidence in this country’s skills, economic policies and energy future. This is one of the largest battery storage portfolios to be built anywhere in Britain, and demonstrates that Scotland is an internationally competitive destination for clean energy infrastructure investment.”
Revera Energy is backed by global investor and asset manager Carlyle.
Windyhill will be optimized by trading firm Danske Commodities under a ten-year floor deal while Revera has not revealed who the route-to-market (RTM) partner is for Hunterston or Kincardine.
Scotland is a key area for large-scale deployment of BESS. Huge amounts of wind energy will come online there in the coming years and there will not be enough grid capacity to transport south to demand centers.
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) will use BESS to store that wind energy until it is needed or can be transported elsewhere. It should reduce the UK’s significant wind power restriction law.
There are similar large BESS projects built in Scotland by owners Matrix Renewables And Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
