Harmony Energy Becomes Europe’s Largest Battery Energy Storage System
Harmony Energy Storage achieves a new milestone, delivering Europe’s largest battery energy storage system with a 196 megawatt-hour energy capacity.
Harmony Energy Limited has announced the delivery of its now online 196 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS).
Image used courtesy of Regen Power
The Pillswood BESS Project
Near the port city of Kingston Upon Hull in Yorkshire’s East Riding, Harmony has developed its third, and largest, BESS project with a Tesla 2-hour Megapack system to boot. This is Europe’s largest BESS by energy capacity with the ability to store up to 196 MWh of electricity in a single cycle. While the Pillswood project serves as a significant milestone for Harmony Energy Income Trust plc, it is the first of six to be completed this coming year to support the UK’s net zero transition goals and secure the nation’s energy supply.
Originally, the project was intended to become operational across two stages involving work in December 2022 and March 2023. Tesla managed the construction of the Pillswood project and with help from G2 Energy and Northern Powergrid, the project was energized and delivered ahead of winter. Project operations will be orchestrated through Tesla’s real-time trading and control platform, Autobidder.
Tesla’s Megapack provides an energy storage capacity of 3 MW, which is enough to power around 3,600 homes for one hour. Image used courtesy of Tesla
The Pillswood site is situated nearby the National Grid’s Creyke Beck substation which also resides within the East Riding area. The Creyke Beck substation will be connected to two phases (Dogger Bank A and B) of the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Each phase of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project will have a generation capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW), which is set to go live next year.
With a BESS that can store a substantial amount of energy—enough to power 300,000 UK homes for two hours—National Grid can enhance wind farm efficiency by keeping turbines spinning. Wind farms no longer need to be turned off because of changes in supply/demand that can cause load constraints and disruptions.
Other Renewable Energy Projects
In other news published by Harmony, the company announced it was given the green light to develop a 40 MW solar farm in Skeeby village, North Yorkshire. The completion of this installation is set to provide power to 11,500 and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 12,250 tonnes per year.
Another green light was given to Harmony to develop and install a 147 MW solar farm on a 260-hectare site at Te Aroha West, Auckland, New Zealand. This will be the largest solar farm in the country with the ability to provide enough power for 30,000 homes. Alongside its construction, a large wetland area is also planned to be restored.
Harmony’s projects are worldwide in scope and aim to deliver renewable energy solutions that enable countries like the UK and New Zealand to achieve their Net Zero goals while providing a more resilient and sustainable power supply.
