British energy storage and electric vehicle technology provider Zenobē Energy has reportedly begun deploying a 300MW/600MWh battery energy storage system project in Blackhearock, Scotland.
The announcement comes shortly after the company secured a 235 million pound ($284.8 million) long-term debt loan from five banks.
The company said that the battery storage project, which will be deployed between the cities of Aberdeen and Inverness, will be the country's first energy storage project to provide electricity to the grid through a transmission line.
It is a crucial milestone in the company's planned goal of deploying 1GW battery energy storage systems in Scotland.
Once fully operational, the battery storage project will eventually be 300MW/600MWh in size, with a first phase of 200MW/400MWh to be developed and commissioned in the summer of 2024 and a second phase of a further 100MW/200MWh scheduled to be commissioned in 2026.
When operational, the battery BESS storage project will enable the region to further mitigate the intermittency of renewable energy generation and store power from locally operated offshore wind farms.
Wärtsilä, H&MV, SMA Solar Technology AG, and GE Grid Solutions have been selected as the leading suppliers for the project.
Zenobe Energy said the new debt financing comes from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Rabobank, Santander UK, Siemens Financial Services, and National Westminster Bank (NatWest). The loan is a financing vehicle arranged in Europe to deploy battery energy storage projects.
The financing will be used for the company's deployment of the Kilmarnock South battery storage project, which is 200MW/400MWh in size. Like the previous deployment of the Blackhillock battery storage project, the Kilmarnock South battery storage project can also be expanded by an additional 100MW/200MWh.
The agreement also includes a £400 million loan to provide debt financing for expansion at each site and future projects.
This will allow Zenobe Energy to expand its battery storage portfolio deployed in Scotland to more than 1GW/2GWh by 2026.
The company recently announced that its 100MW/107MWh Capenhurst battery storage system deployed in Chester has begun providing reactive power services to the grid, making it the largest battery storage project in Europe to be directly connected to the transmission grid.
