The Anonymous Widower

Lakeside Facility Connects To Grid And Becomes UK’s Largest Transmission Connected Battery

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.

These three bullet points, act as sub-headings.

• National Grid plugs TagEnergy’s 100MW battery project in at its Drax substation.
• Following energisation, the facility in North Yorkshire is the UK’s largest transmission connected battery energy storage system (BESS).
• The facility is supporting Britain’s clean energy transition, and helping to ensure secure operation of the electricity system.

This paragraph introduces the project.

A battery storage project developed by TagEnergy is now connected and energised on the electricity transmission network, following work by National Grid to plug the facility into its 132kV Drax substation in North Yorkshire.

• Lakeside Energy Park’s 100MW/200MWh facility is now the largest transmission connected BESS project in the UK following energisation.
• The new facility will boost the capacity and flexibility of the network, helping to balance the system by soaking up surplus clean electricity and discharging it back when the grid needs it.
• To ensure a safe connection, National Grid, working with its contractor Omexom, upgraded its Drax 132kV substation to accommodate the additional clean power.
• Works included extending the busbars – which enable power flows from generation source on to power lines – upgrading busbar protection and substation control systems, and installing an operational tripping scheme, all of which helps keep the network stable and operating securely.

Owned and operated by TagEnergy – with Tesla, Habitat Energy and RES as project partners – the newly-connected battery will help exploit the clean electricity potential of renewable projects in the region, storing and releasing green energy to power homes and businesses and also helping to relieve any system constraints.

National Grid’s adjacent Drax 400kV substation already hosts the connection for Drax power station – the UK’s largest biomass facility – and will also connect the Eastern Green Link 2 electrical superhighway when it starts importing clean energy from Scotland in 2029.

Drax power station seems to be growing into a large node with several gigawatts of electricity, the UK’s largest BESS, a large biomass power station and the Eastern Green Link 2 electrical superhighway which will import clean energy from Scotland from 2029.

Drax appears to be transforming from the dirty man of the UK into a Jolly Green Giant.

I can see further power stations and sources, storage devices and technology joining the party at Drax.

This Google Map shows the Drax site.

Note.

1. The cooling towers can be picked out in the South-East quarter of the map.
2. The site is rail and road connected, with the River Ouse nearby.
3. There is a lot of space.

Surely, Drax would have a big enough space, with a high quality and high capacity electrical connection for Ørsted and Highview Power to put one of their three 200 MW/2.5 GWh batteries, that I talked about in Centrica Business Solutions And Highview Power.

November 18, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage | Ørsted, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Drax Power Station, Eastern Green Link 2, Highview Power, Lakeside BESS, National Grid, TagEnergy, Tesla