[Romsey, UK. 28.03.2023] The 50 MW project is the first battery energy storage system sold by this partnership, which is currently developing a further 450MW portfolio pipeline of BESS and solar co-located projects with connection dates spanning 2023-2028.
ENGIE purchased Broxburn BESS at ready-to-build stage with approved grid connection and energisation expected in H2 2024. Once complete, the project will provide support for more than 20,000 homes annually.
BESS provide vital grid balancing services while allowing energy from photovoltaics or wind power to be stored for later use. Thus, BESS play an increasingly vital role in the expansion of renewable energy, especially where grid export is constrained, as is particularly the case in Scotland.
Stuart Whiteford, Chief Commercial Officer for Ethical Power Group, comments: “This is a fantastic achievement and marks the first battery site sale for our partnership. We look forward to delivering the full pipeline of projects under development in order to contribute toward substantially increasing the UK’s energy security.”
Aidan Connolly, Head of Battery Storage UK at ENGIE FlexGen, said “We were pleased to complete this transaction with the JV between Hive Energy, Ethical Power, Sirius and EcoDev. The Broxburn acquisition demonstrates our ambition to strengthen ENGIE’s leading position in both power and gas storage in the UK, key activities which are vital to facilitating the energy transition. The project will complement ENGIE’s other BESS project in the vicinity, at Cathkin (East Kilbride), with both 50MW sites connecting into the 33kV network at the same time.”
Additional comments from Ethical Power and Hive Energy:
Tom Kneen, CEO of Ethical Power, comments: “Battery energy storage systems have now become an essential element of the energy infrastructure. Our ambition is to become the global leader in this quickly expanding industry. We are pleased to complete the sale of Broxburn BESS to ENGIE and are confident the project will positively contribute to the grid’s stability, flexibility and reliability for years to come.”
Giles Redpath, CEO of Hive Energy, said: “Hive is expanding its clean technologies beyond solar and reaching new milestones like this in our battery and green hydrogen projects is a testament to the power of green energy and our transition away from fossil fuels.”
Additional Information: ENGIE
ENGIE is a global reference in low-carbon energy and services. With its 96,000 employees, its customers, partners and stakeholders, the Group is committed to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world, through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally friendly solutions. Inspired by its purpose (“raison d’être”), ENGIE reconciles economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, building on its key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to its customers. Turnover in 2022: 93.9 billion Euros. The Group is listed on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges (ENGI) and is represented in the main financial indices (CAC 40, Euronext 100, FTSE Euro 100, MSCI Europe) and non-financial indices (DJSI World, Euronext Vigeo Eiris – Europe 120 / France 20, MSCI EMU ESG screened, MSCI EUROPE ESG Universal Select, Stoxx Europe 600 ESG-X).
https://www.engie.com/en
Additional Information: Ethical Power
Ethical Power is a vertically integrated renewable energy company specialising in solar power and large-scale battery storage projects. With competency across the entire life cycle of a project, from design through construction and grid connection to asset management, Ethical Power can optimise operations along the value chain and has a proven record of delivering best-quality and highest-performing renewable energy assets in the UK. Ethical Power has a track record of more than 40 solar and battery projects built across the UK and a growing pipeline of projects in Spain, Greece, Poland and New Zealand.
Additional Information: Hive Energy
Hive Energy, headquartered in the UK, was founded in 2010 by Giles Redpath to participate in the significant solar PV expansion across England. The company now operates from over 24 countries globally, including Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, and the UK.
The Hive Energy Group is recognised internationally as a trusted partner in the development, construction, and operation of large-scale renewable energy projects. Hive is known for its innovative approach and market leading vision across both renewable energy and circular economy industries. Hive has established some of the world’s leading solar projects, including the UK’s largest solar park, an upcoming one of the world’s largest Green Ammonia plants in South Africa and the first Green Hydrogen/Ammonia Hub in Spain.
Hive is currently developing over 27 GW of renewable energy projects. To date, Hive’s projects have generated over £1.3billion capital expenditure in green energy projects, saving 778,631 tonnes of CO2 each year.
www.hiveenergy.co.uk
Additional Information: EcoDev Group
EcoDev Group is an engineering-based development company with a pipeline over 2GW of battery and solar in the UK. Past achievements have included the successful development of 30 solar projects in excess of 100MW.
https://www.ecodevgroup.com/
Additional Information: Sirius Group
The Sirius Group is a successful consulting and contracting business employing over 260 staff with an annual turnover of £85 million pounds. The group’s consulting activities include planning and EIA, civil engineering design, project management and ground investigation. The contracting business is focused on land remediation, civil engineering, drilling, ground stabilisation and demolition services.
This unique in-house mix of complementary businesses has enabled Sirius Group to successfully design, plan, construct, develop, and in some cases own and operate wind and solar projects throughout the UK. Sirius provides specialist planning and ground engineering services to its Joint Venture with EcoDev, Hive Energy and Ethical Power. Sirius Planning successfully obtained planning permission for the Broxburn project on behalf of the JV and are currently engaged by Engie to discharge the planning conditions for the site.