SSE has acquired its first grid-scale storage project, buying the development rights for a consented 50MW facility in Wiltshire from Harmony Energy.
The company said it plans to reach financial close on the project and begin construction over the next 18 months.
“As we put more renewable energy on the grid and phase out fossil fuels, battery storage has a key role to play in helping the UK decarbonise,” said Richard Cave-Bigley, SSE’s sector director for distributed generation and storage.
“Our distributed energy division has ambitions to build a significant portfolio of batteries – we’re looking at around 500MW of early-stage opportunities – and we hope today’s announcement signals the seriousness of our intent in this market.”
Harmony Energy has so far developed two battery storage projects and has a pipeline of more than 600MW of project rights.
Chief executive Peter Kavanagh said: “The site has been four years development work in the making, demonstrating our expertise in bringing forward complex battery storage developments to construction-ready stage.
“It’s great for SSE to have shown their confidence and enable our divestment. We share their vision and passion to help accelerate the deployment of energy storage which is fundamental to the UK’s energy mix and enabling the reduction of carbon emissions.”