Shell teams up with Anesco for UK battery storage project

The lithium-ion battery is expected to launch this Summer at the Bacton gas terminal site, a complex of six gas terminals within four sites located on the North Sea coast.

Anesco will provide the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the utility-scale system.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Shell New Energies on this exciting new project in the storage sector,” said Anesco’s executive chairman Steve Shine.

“It marks another significant milestone for us at Anesco. We have fully complied with Shell’s high standards of quality and safety and that is a massive compliment to the Anesco team.”

Battery boon

Reading-based Anesco became the first firm to install a commercial-scale battery charged by solar power in 2016. Since then, it has committed to bring 185MW of energy onto the grid, creating UK’s largest portfolio of energy storage. The firm also operates the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farm, which was opened in 2017 in Bedfordshire. 

Experts believe that battery storage technology could help create savings for the nation to the tune of £8bn by 2030. The start of 2019 has seen a number of developments in this area, including the news that Centrica has completed work on a 49MW battery storage facility on the former site of the Roosecote power station in Cumbria.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the world’s first grid-scale pumped heat energy storage system is now up and running at Newcastle University. The project – touted as a “world-first” – has maximum power output of 150kW and a storage capacity of 600kWh.

The announcement from Shell comes as the Dutch firm begins to transition away from fossil fuels and move into the low-carbon and renewables sectors. Earlier this month, Shell confirmed it was considering the feasibility of doubling its annual green energy investments to $4bn (£3.2bn).

Shell has invested heavily in solar firms and electric car infrastucture companies in recent times as more green technologies come to the market, and has also moved to install rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging points and hydrogen cell refuelling facilities at some of its petrol station forecourts.

George Ogleby

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