Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft has commissioned Ireland’s first four-hour battery energy storage system at the 55.8 MW Cushaling wind farm in County Offaly.
The Cushaling BESS has a power capacity of 20 MW and a duration of four hours, delivering 80 MWh of stored energy. The system is supplied by Fluence.
According to the company, the battery system can respond in approximately 0.1 seconds, providing rapid frequency support to the transmission system operator as renewable energy penetration increases.
The project is part of Statkraft’s wider investment in Ireland’s energy infrastructure, announced in September 2023, and is expected to support the country’s target of sourcing 70% of electricity from renewables by 2030 by increasing grid flexibility and integrating a greater share of wind generation.
With Cushaling, Statkraft now operates three battery energy storage systems in Ireland. Kilathmoy, the country’s first operational battery, is an 11MW/5.6MWh lithium-ion system, along with a 23.1MW wind farm on the Limerick Kerry border. While the second project, Kelwin-2, is a 26 MW utility-scale lithium-ion BESS in Tarbert, County Kerry, completed in April 2021.
The Cushaling project further expands Statkraft’s storage footprint and from this year will establish an annual Sustainability Fund of €25,000 (£21,840) to support local community initiatives.
