Somerset battery storage project reaches final stages

Kiwi Power, a global energy technology company, has commissioned the final 5MW of battery storage at South Somerset District Council’s (SSDC) site at Fideoak Mill in Taunton.

The additional £2.5 million investment brings the site’s total capacity to 30MW, the UK’s largest council-owned battery storage site.

Kiwi Power’s proprietary hardware, Fruit, was installed on all 22 battery units so that the site can provide grid balancing services to National Grid.

Thomas Jennings, Kiwi Power head of optimisation, said: “Councils across the UK are seeking to make the most out of their sustainability and carbon emissions investments as they seek to meet increasingly stringent targets.

“Landmark projects such as Fideoak are vital for demonstrating how investments in battery storage and renewables are value adding and income generating.”

David Owen, director of Opium Power, said its partnership with Kiwi Power and SSDC, is the first of several joint ventures with local authorities and private sector investors it is progressing to deliver stability to a sustainably powered grid.

He said: “We currently have an additional 110MW in design and build on three new battery storage systems, and we intend to work with Kiwi Power on all of them.

"The UK has already accepted that we must adapt our electricity generation system to be carbon zero compliant by the use of renewables, and indeed the Government has legislated for it.

“Grid scale battery storage is the essential required component to stabilise the inherently unstable and non-dispatchable energy generated by solar and wind.”