Barn Energy installs BYD energy storage batteries at 2 UK hydropower projects

Barn Energy said on Thursday it has installed batteries at two of its river hydro facilities, the first installations of battery storage at a low-head river hydro scheme in the UK.

The lithium-ion batteries each have a capacity of more than 1,200 kWh. They have been deployed at Thrybergh, Rover Don near Rotherham and Knottingley on the River Aire near Wakefield, with original capacities of 260kW and 500kW respectively.

Barn Energy carried out the projects with its sister company Eelpower Ltd and plans to install the battery at the 500kW Kirkthorpe hydropower station on the River Calder later this year.

The two batteries were manufactured by China's BYD and installed by Anke. They are providing fixed frequency response (FFR) to the national grid under a two-year contract. Barn Energy said the batteries will export power when TRIAD services are in place. When not performing FFR or TRIAD services, the storage systems will be used for load shifting and trading to maximize revenue. They will be remotely controlled using Limejump's virtual power plant product.

Both batteries were reportedly qualified for the recent Capacity Market auction but chose not to take the exit price in February 2018.

Mark Simon, head of Barn Energy and Eelpower, said that when performing grid balancing services such as FFR, 60-70% of the battery consumption is provided by hydropower, with the balance coming from the grid. “This will bring huge benefits to our batteries and hydropower plants,” Simon added.

(Original text from: Renewable Energy Express)