Sweden-headed energy major Vattenfall has announced that its battery@pyc, the largest co-located battery installation in the United Kingdom (UK), is now operational and stores renewable wind power from Vattenfall’s Welsh onshore wind farm Pen y Cymoedd. Sharing the electrical infrastructure with the wind farm, the 22 MW facility will help UK National Grid maintain frequency levels and reliability of electricity supply, by storing electricity produced by the wind farm.
Vattenfall is on the road to a smart, digitalised future, free from fossil fuels. I can think of few other energy installations that better demonstrate what that future looks like than this battery installation, said Gunnar Groebler, Senior Vice President Business Area Wind.
The battery is made up of six shipping container sized units, five of which house 500 i3 BMW manufactured battery packs. It uses new lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 33 kWh supplied by BMW and adapted for a stationary application.
This is Vattenfall’s largest battery installation to date, where we make use of synergies at our existing wind farms sites – such as at Pen y Cymoedd or the Princess Alexia Wind Farm in the Netherlands. Hybrid renewable parks will play a larger role in the future and we are leading this development, said Claus Wattendrup, Head of Business Unit Solar & Batteries.
The 76-turbine Pen y Cymoedd onshore wind farm is capable of meeting the equivalent electricity needs of more than 13 percent of households in Wales annually also boosts delivery of Wales’s climate change ambitions.
