National Grid has upgraded its Drax 132kV substation to accommodate the connection of TagEnergy’s 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
According to the renewable energy developer, the facility in North Yorkshire is the largest transmission-connected battery storage system in the UK. National Grid worked with contractor Omexom to safely facilitate its connection to the network.
Works included extending the busbars, which enable power flow from generation source to the power lines, upgrading busbar protection and substation control systems, and installing an operational tripping scheme.
The substation upgrades will ensure network stability and security. The adjacent 400kV substation hosts the connection for Drax power station, the UK’s largest biomass facility.
The BESS project is owned by TagEnergy and received support from technology provider Tesla, optimiser Habitat Energy, and independent renewables company RES Group. In December 2021, TagEnergy secured a 100% stake in the Lakeside project from RES in a deal worth £65 million.
Mark Brindley, portfolio director for northern regions at National Grid Electricity Transmission, explained: “Our Drax substation originally connected a coal plant in the seventies, and is now playing an important role in the energy transition – connecting not only the country’s biggest battery, but also its largest biomass power plant.”
Franck Woitiez, chief executive officer at TagEnergy, said: “We’re proud to have delivered the project efficiently, energised and connected onto National Grid’s transmission network without significant delays or operating issues. That is exactly what is needed to speed the transition.”
Grid connections critical to clean power
Although there were not significant delays to the Lakeside BESS transmission connection, the queue of projects waiting to be connected to the UK’s electricity grid sits around 722GW.
As reported by our sister site Current±, the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem has set its proposals for a system overhaul to speed up the connections process, which is widely acknowledged as a major barrier to net zero.
Infrastructural changes will also require a boost, and National Grid launched the ‘Great Grid Upgrade’ initiative in 2023 to support this. It is set to build new infrastructure across England and Wales to enable more clean energy to be transported from generation sites to where it’s needed.
National Grid has committed to investing £60 billion into network and grid upgrades over the next five years, on both sides of the Atlantic. Around £30 billion will be invested in the UK by 2029, while £28 billion will be invested in the northeast of the US.
