The project is one of four totalling 308MWh that ESB and Fluence are developing in Ireland.
State-owned Irish electric utility ESB has opened a 19MW/38MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Aghada, County Cork, provided by system integrator Fluence.
The fast-acting BESS will help provide grid stability and integrate more renewable resources on Ireland’s electricity system, ESB said on Friday, 15 July.
ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes indicated the project is located at the same site as the utility's Aghada 708MW gas plant.
Paul McCusker, Fluence president of EMEA, said: “The project is built with the use of our Gridstack energy storage product that can respond within 150 milliseconds and provide up to two hours of discharge at full power.”
It is the first of four BESS projects the two companies are co-developing in Ireland, totalling 308MWh. A 60 MWh BESS in Inchicore, Dublin, is set to come online this year too, while projects in Poolbeg and South Wall are due for completion in early 2023.
Irish companies Powercomm Group and Kirby Group are providing engineering, procurement and construction services for the projects.
The projects will help Ireland in reaching its 2030 renewable electricity generation target of 80%, and ESB in its Net Zero by 2040 strategy.
The country installed 708MW of BESS projects in 2021 according to research and consultancy firm Delta-EE, but plans to interconnect with the French market mean the firm is forecasting a decrease in annual deployments over the next few years to around 300MW of new additions in 2024.
The commissioning of the Aghada site brings Fluence's total BESS projects deployed or contracted globally to nearly 5,000MW, the company said.