NextEnergy Solar Fund’s (NESF) maiden standalone 50MW battery energy storage system (BESS) has gone live, bringing the developer’s total net installed capacity to 1,014MW.
The 50MW BESS, dubbed ‘Camilla’, is a 1-hour lithium-ion battery located in Fife, Scotland. The project connected to the National Grid in December 2023 and concluded final phases of commissioning earlier this year.
The first asset to be delivered through NESF’s £300 million Joint Venture Partnership programmed with developer Eelpower Limited, Camilla, has been pre-configured for augmentation to increase its duration to two hours.
The asset was also successful in this year’s T-1 Capacity Market Auction, securing a contract with a clearing price of £35.79/kW. NESF added that the contract requires the derated capacity of 5.659MW and is expected to generate £202,000 of additional contracted revenue for the period 1 October 2024 through to the end of September 2025.
Battery energy storage was awarded the most capacity of clean technologies bidding in the T-1 CMA, receiving 655.16MW (8.58%).
“I am pleased that NESF has achieved commercial operations of its first standalone energy storage asset, Camilla a 50MW battery in Fife Scotland,” said Helen Mahy, Chair of NextEnergy Solar Fund.
“Camilla is conveniently located adjacent to the Glenniston substation and is already connected to the National Grid, supporting constraints on Grid interconnector capacity to areas of high demand. Energy storage assets will play a crucial role in the UK’s transition to net zero and we are proud to play a central role in achieving this.”
This article has been amended to accurately reflect that Next Energy Solar Fund should be abbreviated to ‘NESF’, not ‘NSIF’ as was incorrectly stated.