Richborough Energy Park battery connects to grid
Richborough Energy Park battery is now connected and energised on the electricity transmission network.
Image source: National Grid
UK, London: Richborough Energy Park battery is now connected and energised on the electricity transmission network.
Richborough Energy Park battery storage project, developed by Pacific Green and owned by the Sosteneo Energy Transition Fund is now connected and energised on the electricity transmission network following work by National Grid to plug the facility into its 400 kV Richborough substation in Kent. Richborough Energy Park’s 100 MW/100 MWh battery will increase the capacity and flexibility of the network, store surplus clean electricity and discharge it back when the grid needs it, with a capability to power 250,000 homes for an hour.
The battery will provide stability services such as helping manage voltage and frequency imbalances as renewable generation dips up and down. The facility is managed by Pacific Green under a long-term asset management agreement. National Grid has upgraded its Richborough substation to accommodate new switchgear and installed new protection and control systems on its supergrid transformer, plugging in the project via a tertiary connection.
The substation hosts the connection for National Grid’s 1 GW Nemo Link interconnector with Belgium, while Thanet Offshore Wind Farm connects into an adjacent substation on the wider Richborough Energy Park site. The battery will exploit the electricity potential of these and other renewable projects in the region.
The site occupies land where a coal power station operated from the early sixties through to 1996 and stood until its demolition in 2012. It played an important role powering Britain’s early supergrid. National Grid started redeveloping the site following the demolition, building the converter station for Nemo Link where the plant’s cooling towers stood. The completion of the Richborough Connection project in 2021 plugged the subsea link into the electricity transmission network via the first major new power line to be constructed in Kent since 1961.
Source: National Grid
#battery storage#National Grid#Pacific Green#Sosteneo Energy Transition Fund#UK