1.4GW Of BESS Capacity Could Be Co-Located With AR6 Winners
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
These are the first two introductory paragraphs of the article.
Analysis from Modo Energy has revealed that renewable energy projects awarded contracts under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 6 (AR6) could facilitate 1.4GW of co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS).
While BESS projects themselves cannot directly participate in the CfD auction, projects awarded contracts are able to co-locate with a battery. Following changes to the rules following Allocation Round 4, BESS co-location is now a far easier prospect for generators, and AR6 saw record high levels of awards for solar projects.
Modo Energy have used two rules to decide which projects will have a battery.
Modo Energy analysis suggests that 5GW of the 9.6GW of renewable energy capacity awarded contracts in AR6 could be suitable for, or has already revealed plans for, co-located battery storage. As a result, as much as 1.4GW of BESS capacity could be created as part of new renewable projects resulting from the AR6.
Using an average ratio of 60MW of BESS capacity for every 100MW of solar generation capacity, Modo Energy has calculated that 1GW of this potential BESS capacity could come from solar projects alone.
Longfield Solar Energy Farm
The article and related documents also say this about Longfield Solar Energy farm.
- This could be the largest battery to co-locate with renewables from this allocation round.
- The project does have a web site.
- The farm has a 399 MW solar array.
- The web site says that the project will store or export up to 500 MW to and from the grid.
- The project is being developed by EDF Renewables.
- The solar farm appears to be North-East of Chelmsford.
The project should be completed by 2027/28.
Conclusion
As time goes on, we’lll see more and more batteries of all kinds co-located with renewable resources.