Earlier this year, GIG announced the acquisition of a portfolio of development-stage utility-scale, distribution-connected battery storage projects in the UK from Capbal Limited. This portfolio includes seven projects strategically located in highly congested areas of the UK network, including Scotland and South-East England. The 40 MW/40 MWh Maldon project is the first project within the portfolio to reach financial close.
GIG has carried out late-stage development activities and has run a wide procurement process to deliver a competitive contractual structure for the project. This includes EDF, who will provide the route to market under a long-term contract, Trina Storage and G2 Energy who will provide the EPC and O&M and Wood who will provide construction and asset management.
The project follows the recent GIG announcement to deliver Australia’s largest privately-funded and fully committed battery storage project at 150 MW/150 MWh in partnership with ENGIE and Fluence at the site of the former Hazelwood Power Station in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria.
To meet the UK’s 2050 net zero target, the UK Government is committed to decarbonise the electricity system by 2035. Battery storage will be a key enabler and will also contribute to – the decarbonisation of the electricity grid in two ways:
- Short term ‘frequency response’ services (Ancillary Services) help compensate for reduced system stability caused by removing fossil fuel generators from the grid; and
- Charging during periods of high generation and low demand and discharging during times of low generation and high demand enables ‘peak shifting’ to occur, resulting in better use of off-peak renewable energy generation and reduced reliance on high carbon forms of generation to provide balancing services.
EDF will provide GIG assets with access to a variety of revenue streams including ancillary services such as Dynamic Containment, balancing mechanism and wholesale optimisation.
Greg Callman, Global Head of Energy Technology, GIG: “We strongly believe in the critical role of battery storage to unlock the global energy transition, enabling expanding renewables capacity and more resilient energy networks.”
Edward Northam, Head of GIG UK and Europe said: “Reaching financial close on this project is an exciting first step for GIG in this market and we look forward to further developing the portfolio and creating even more opportunities to accelerate the delivery of this vital technology.”
