Danish offshore wind developer DONG Energy has unveiled plans to equip its 90MW Burbo Bank offshore wind farm with a battery system in a move that could potentially catalyse the market.
The upgrade will represent the first time an offshore wind project is paired with a battery unit when it is installed by the end of this year by Swiss-based equipment maker ABB. The Burbo Bank project is located in the Liverpool Bay in the UK.
DONG declined to comment on the cost of the investment.
The 2MW battery will act as a frequency-response facility to the National Grid to help with grid stability. DONG said co-locating the battery system with the wind farm provides a less costly version of frequency support and hinted at similar investments in the future.
“With eight existing offshore wind farms in the UK and another four under construction, we expect to leverage further technology improvements and innovations and ensure that DONG Energy supports the stability of grid systems as generation capacity becomes cleaner and more sustainable,” said Ole Kjems Sorensen, senior vice-president for M&A and Asset Management.
Burbo Bank was one of the UK’s earlier large-scale offshore wind farms to become operational when construction was completed in 2007. A 258MW extension to the project came online as a separate asset last month after Danish pension fund PKA and Lego bought half of the site for £660 million ($853.2 million; €759.6 million) in February 2016.
Battery storage for an offshore wind site has also been planned by Norway’s Statoil, which is aiming to install 1MW of storage capabilities at its pilot floating wind farm in Scotland next year.
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