Energy company RWE will use Arenko’s asset management platform Nimbus to manage and trade three DC-coupled solar-plus-storage projects in Great Britain, with a total capacity of 150 MW.
The partnership builds on the similarity of the two companies collaboration on three further UK solar plus storage projects in 2024.
These projects had a total capacity of 165 MW of solar and 55 MW/110 MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS), while the three new ones were reported to have a total of 150 MW without specifying solar and BESS. The 150MW probably refers to the grid connection and solar capacity.
However, Arenko did say that two of the new projects will feature 4-hour BESS. The majority of BESS projects under construction or operation in the UK are 2 or 3 hour projects, making them among the long-term assets on the market.
RWE will now integrate Arenko’s Nimbus software platform into the new assets. Nimbus will provide end-to-end monitoring, control, optimization and automated trading. It will enable RWE to trade and operate the projects profitably and safely, Arenko said.
This indicates that Arenko will only provide the software and technology, while RWE will retain control and trading decisions internally, which is typical for a large energy company like itself. It operates several gigawatts of energy generation and storage worldwide, including legacy thermal power plants, renewables and BESS. The main storage markets are Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and the US.
Arenko did not say when the projects are expected to come online. The projects can be part of one Portfolio of seven projects that RWE started working on two years agopart of a larger pipeline that connects it with the acquisition of developer JBM Solar in 2023. The company also made a final investment decision (FID) on a 350 MW/700 MWh BESS in Wales by December 2025.
It comes after the latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction awarded contracts for 4.9 GW of solar PV, a record allocation for the technology.
Commenting on the latest deal between the pair, Rupert Newland, CEO of Arenko, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with RWE on these projects, which bring a new level of complexity by combining solar and storage within a DC-coupled design. Our focus has been on bridging the gap between shared infrastructure and market requirements by converting DC output into the AC representation needed to function as two separate, market-compliant technologies.”
