Airports must consider the stability of power supply, and energy storage projects are a good solution. Here will be SES Power to sort out the recent global new energy news for you.

A: British energy storage fund Gore Street acquires 200MW battery storage project

British energy storage fund investor Gore Street has acquired a 200MW battery storage project being developed by Kona Energy. This marks the company's largest acquisition deal to date, bringing its portfolio of deployed and acquired battery energy storage assets to 898MW.

(Gore Street's Drumkee battery storage system deployed in Ireland)

The project, located in Heysham, Lancashire, will connect directly to the transmission network of UK grid operator National Grid when it opens.

The company said at the time that the battery storage system would help improve the energy efficiency of its nearby offshore wind farms, which are connected to the nearby grid.

The storage asset will also provide reactive power services and provide inertia services to support the stability of local grid operations, Kona Energy said.

Kona Energy founder Andy Willis said the battery storage system could help reduce cuts in renewable energy generation. He stressed that the value of wind power and other renewable power cut in the UK in 2021 is up to £1 billion, which could have been used but ended up being wasted.

The energy storage project deployed in Heysham is part of a 1GW energy storage system planned to be developed by Kona Energy.

Gore Street recently noted that battery storage systems connected to the transmission network rather than the distribution grid could provide additional revenue opportunities, and this is the company's second grid-connected energy storage system after the 50MW Enderby storage project it acquired in mid-2021.

Such large-scale energy storage assets would benefit from being connected to the main transmission network, resulting in operational cost savings and the potential for additional revenue streams," said Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street. We remain selective about new acquisition opportunities and are focused on energy storage projects that offer significant cost and revenue advantages."

The approval for this battery storage system to connect to the grid and the land for construction has already been approved, and the storage system is expected to be up and running no later than the fourth quarter of 2026, he said. Gore Street, however, wants to start construction earlier on the premise that it will not increase the EPC costs for the Haytham battery storage system.

According to a report conducted by industry media in late July, Gore Street's revenues soared in fiscal 2021. The company's EBITDA revenue grew to £23.3 million for the year ending March 31, 2022, from £2.9 million in the previous year.

The company said revenues from its battery storage business in fiscal 2022 will be more than 68% higher than in fiscal 2021, O'Cinneide said, adding that Gore Street optimizes capital expenditures in its portfolio and works to improve performance and profitability.

B:New Zealand Plans to Deploy 100MW Battery Energy Storage Project Approved

New Zealand power producer and retailer Meridian Energy has received development approval for a battery storage system deployment plan that would make it the largest battery storage system in New Zealand to date.  

Meridian Energy plans to develop the 100MW installed capacity battery storage project in Ruākākā, on New Zealand's North Island, adjacent to the disused Marsden Point refinery.

(Vector Energy's first megawatt-scale battery storage system deployed in New Zealand in 2016)

The company said on Nov. 3 that it had received resource approvals from Whangangurei District Council and Northland Regional Council for the project. This marks a quick start to construction of the first phase of the Ruākākā Energy Park, where the company said it plans to build another 125 MW solar farm.

Meridian Energy plans to open and operate the battery storage system in 2024. Helen Knott, the company's director of renewable energy development, said the battery storage system will help the grid by reducing fluctuations in supply and demand, which will help lower electricity prices.

Knott said: "We see the local power system under pressure during peak demand periods, which leads to fluctuations in electricity prices. A battery storage system can help reduce these events by smoothing out supply and demand."  

The storage system will use low-cost power to charge during off-peak periods and discharge during periods of peak power demand, and could also help deliver power from New Zealand's South Island to the North Island.

While helping to increase renewable energy utilization, the storage system could also accelerate the retirement of fossil fuel-fired generation facilities on New Zealand's North Island, Knott said.

According to industry media reports. New Zealand's largest publicly announced battery storage project currently has an installed capacity of 35 MW and is being deployed by power distributor WEL Networks and developer Infratec.

The project, which is due to open for operation in December this year, will see Saft supplying the battery storage units and New Zealand Power Electronics supplying the inverters for the project.

New Zealand's first megawatt-scale battery storage system was a 1MW/2.3MWh battery storage project built by Vector Energy in 2016 using Tesla Powerpack battery storage units.

C: 399MWh! On.Energy to deploy battery storage projects at multiple airports in Latin America

Miami-based energy developer On.Energy plans to deploy battery energy storage systems (BESS) with a total storage capacity of 39MWh at 11 airports in Latin America.   

(Airport power outages can have a global impact)

The company is deploying these energy storage systems at 11 undisclosed airports in Latin America. The battery energy storage systems will improve grid reliability for airports, reduce carbon emissions and reduce electricity costs by up to 25 percent.

Jose Manuel Diaz, president of On.Energy for South and Central America, said, "When any airport in the world loses power, it can cause a global ripple effect. Some airports in Latin America are therefore planning to adopt battery storage systems to ensure the reliability of the power supply, while also improving efficiency, reducing operating costs and supporting decarbonization goals."  

The company, which has offices in the United States, Mexico and Peru, currently has battery storage systems deployed at five airports that are either in operation or in the final stages of commissioning.

On.Energy is deploying these battery storage projects in partnership with Skysense, which focuses on developing airport security monitoring software.

And in August, On.Energy raised $100 million from British investment funders SEEIT to deploy energy storage projects in the U.S. and Canada.

So far, the company has mainly delivered commercial and industrial site (C&I) battery storage projects, with about 100MW of battery storage systems in operation or under construction, and a total storage capacity of 3.8GWh planned for deployment in the Americas.   

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