Penso and Shell create 150MW battery storage scheme

UK-based Penso Power has secured land rights, planning permission and a grid connection offer to extend its 100MW Minety project by a further 50MW.

The Minety project, 12 miles northwest of Swindon is already Europe's largest battery storage development and is expected to be operational by autumn 2020. China Huaneng Group and CNIC, the Chinese government-backed fund, where among the major original backers. The additional 50MW capacity is to be built on adjacent land, and will enter operation in 2021.

The extended development has been enabled by commercial agreements with Shell Energy Europe and Limejump, a subsidiary of Shell. Shell has signed a major offtake agreement on the original 100MW project, the largest of its kind globally to date, whilst the batteries will be optimised and dispatched by Limejump.

Penso Power's CEO Richard Thwaites, who was formerly chairman at Limejump until it was sold to Shell in 2019, said: "Minety is a landmark project for UK battery storage. Its sheer size marks it as the most significant battery storage development in Europe so far, dwarfing other battery developments in scale and ambition. It shows that storage will play a more substantial role in the UK energy market as we continue our path towards net-zero."

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