National Grid will reveal the winning bids this week for one of the world’s biggest battery storage projects, providing back-up power to keep Britain’s lights on.
Thirty-seven companies have submitted bids for the scheme to supply 200 megawatts (MW) of power, mainly using utility-scale battery arrays. The winners will be announced on Friday.
The battery arrays will help to manage peaks and troughs in UK electricity production because of the nation’s increasing reliance on volatile wind and solar power. “This is a new service that is being developed to improve management of the system,” National Grid said. Bidders include America’s AES, RWE of Germany and the British company RES as well as Japanese players, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
Intermittent renewables supplied 25