Pivot Power’s 50MW/50MWh lithium-ion battery storage site in Oxford is the first tertiary connection in the country to export to the grid.
This has been confirmed by National Grid, with Roisin Quinn, director of customer connections at National Grid describing it as a “huge achievement”.
Tertiary connections provide a way of connecting directly to National Grid’s high voltage transmission network, with each connection providing up to 57MW demand or generation capability.
The battery energy storage system (BESS) is a part of the Energy Superhub Oxford, a low-carbon smart energy system integrating distributed energy technologies including electric vehicles (EV) chargers, heat pumps and energy storage. In May, it was revealed that the site would have 38 fast and ultra-rapid EV chargers.
The system is the first to go live as part of Pivot Power’s plans to develop up to 2GW of battery storage nationwide, having gone live in June, it is to be closely followed by the Kemsley site in Kent.
Work is due to start on the next two projects in Coventry and Sandwell shortly, which will collectively provide 100MW/200MWh of battery storage.
“We’re hugely honoured that National Grid have chosen to recognise the work we have done at Cowley to create the UK’s first transmission-connected battery. It’s taken a phenomenal effort from everyone in the Pivot Power team and we couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve achieved together,” Mikey Clark, CTO/COO at Pivot Power said.
