GE Renewable Energy has secured a contract from Wykes to deliver 25MW of energy storage systems to its solar plant in the UK.
The Chelveston Renewable Energy Park solar photovoltaic (PV) plant will use these storage systems alongside its existing 60MW capacity.
The site has 26MW of wind generation using GE’s 2.85MW onshore wind turbines.
GE Renewable Energy Renewable Hybrids CEO Prakash Chandra said: “The world is increasingly moving to generate more dispatchable renewables using hybrid solutions – combining the power of standalone technologies like wind and solar with storage through controls and software, and, this project is a further demonstration of GE’s capabilities in this space.
“We are proud to have been selected by Wykes to deliver this flagship project in the UK and for the opportunity to deliver on this challenging solution.”
By installing GE’s Reservoir Energy Storage technology, Wyke will add another 60MW of capacity to its solar generation, increasing it to 120MW.
This will bring Chelveston Renewable Energy Park to a total of 146MW energy generation capacity from wind and solar sources.
A GE spokesperson said it will be the first DC-coupled battery energy storage system in the country integrated with a solar plant, where the solar panels and batteries will share a set of power conversion equipment.
The company claims its new technology will improve the overall energy output of the solar-storage hybrid system while optimising costs and increasing overall system reliability.
Wykes engineering process and controls engineering manager Scott Coleman said: “As part of our ongoing relationship with GE Renewable Energy, we selected their power storage system as it was flexible, scalable and allowed us to perform a range of tasks enabling us to provide resilient services, not only to the national grid, but to our private energy consumers within our expanding on-site grid.”
The new system will allow the company to fully optimise the energy generated at the renewable sites, as well as its grid connection and flexibility.
The companies say the project is in line with the UK government’s plan to incorporate energy storage systems into wind and solar power.
This week, GE Renewable Energy announced the construction of the world’s largest test rig for wind turbine rotors.
