Renewable fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has progressed two battery energy storage system (BESS) developments in Scotland that will have a combined capacity of 1GW.
Through its flagship fund CI IV, CIP has taken financial investment decision (FID) and issued notice to proceed to commence construction for the 500MW/1000MWh Coalburn 2 BESS in South Lanarkshire, adjacent to its existing Coalburn 1 BESS, and the Devilla BESS of the same size in Fife.
E-STORAGE, part of Canadian Solar’s majority-owned subsidiary CSI Solar, signed contracts covering both BESS projects, which are scheduled to begin construction in 2027. The global energy storage solutions provider will supply and integrate around 450 SolBank 3.0 battery containers across the two projects and, under a long-term service agreement with CIP, will also support the facilities’ long-term performance and operational management of the projects.
Once commissioned, the BESS developments are pegged to become Europe’s largest battery storage projects.
Scottish first minister John Swinney and Scotland’s cabinet secretary for net zero and energy Gillian Martin visited the Coalburn 2 site to mark the step forward for the project. Swinney said: “The construction of the two largest battery systems in Europe, in South Lanarkshire and Fife, delivered by international investment, is to be welcomed as a significant contribution to the growth of Scotland’s energy transition infrastructure.”
CIP’s UK investments
CIP manages 12 different funds and says it is investing in over 30GW of renewable energy infrastructure in the UK, representing over £15 billion of future investment potential. In April 2024, it announced the £250 million acquisition of a majority share in UK solar firm Elgin Energy to deliver a 15GW portfolio through the CI IV fund.
In February 2022, CIP’s CI IV fund partnered with Alcemi, a large-scale BESS developer, to develop a UK-wide portfolio of BESS projects to FID. The milestones for Coalburn 2 and Devilla come about a year on from FID being reached for the Coalburn 1 BESS, which is also being supplied by e-STORAGE. Alcemi received planning permission for the two latest BESS in February last year.
Balance of plant and electrical engineering services have been contracted from H&MV Engineering for Coalburn 2 and from the OCU Group for Devilla.
Once all three BESS developments come online, CIP’s BESS portfolio in Scotland will have a total power capacity of 1.5GW and be able to supply 3GWh of electricity to the grid. Nischal Agarwal, partner at CIP, pointed out the importance of location for BESS projects such as these in achieving clean power targets by 2030.
James Forster, Development Director of Alcemi, commented: “The partnership between CIP and Alcemi has gone from strength to strength and has grown into what both companies envisioned. We’re proud to be a significant part of CIPs growth to becoming the UK’s largest battery storage investor. We look forward to continuing to work together, delivering more strategic projects that will enable a clean power system by 2030.”
