Welbar energy storage, a joint venture between penso power and luminous energy, has obtained the planning license for the development and deployment of a 350MW grid connected battery energy storage system with a duration of 5 hours in the UK.

The hams hall lithium ion battery energy storage project in North Warwickshire, UK, has a capacity of 1750mwh and lasts for more than five hours.

The 350MW hams hall battery energy storage system will be deployed together with the 100MW minety solar power plant put into use by pensopower in 2021.

Penso power said it would provide a wide range of services to support UK grid operations, including the potential to provide longer duration services.

According to a survey report released by Aurora energy research in February, the UK will need up to 24gw of long-term energy storage to completely decarbonize the power grid by 2035. The development needs of the energy storage industry are receiving increasing attention, including the UK Department of Commerce, energy and industrial strategy announced nearly £ 7 million earlier this year to support its development.

Richard Thwaites, CEO of penso power, said: "therefore, through our model, we will certainly see the economies of scale of large-scale energy storage projects. This involves connection costs, deployment costs, procurement, and the choice of continuous operation and listing routes. Therefore, we think it is more meaningful to deploy and operate large-scale energy storage projects from a financial point of view."

According to an agreement announced by penso power in October 2021, hams hall battery energy storage system is deployed in the east of Birmingham as part of more than 3gwh battery energy storage project funded by BW group, a global maritime company.

Penso power, luminous energy and BW group will become joint shareholders of the development of hams hall battery energy storage project, and the first two companies will also supervise the battery energy storage project when it is put into operation.

"The UK now needs more control over its energy supply than ever before. The energy storage system improves the reliability of the UK grid. This project is one of the projects we are planning to develop and will also make a financial contribution to local sustainable and green initiatives," said David Bryson of luminous energy

Penso power previously developed the minety battery energy storage project with an installed capacity of 100MW, and the energy storage system was fully put into operation in July 2021. The energy storage project consists of two 50MW battery energy storage systems, and it is planned to add another 50MW.

The company hopes to continue to develop and deploy battery energy storage systems with larger scale and longer duration.

Thwaites added, "I'm surprised to still see one hour battery energy storage projects and see them enter the planning stage. I don't understand why someone will deploy one hour battery energy storage projects.

At the same time, luminous energy focuses on developing large-scale solar energy and battery energy storage projects, and has deployed more than 1GW battery energy storage projects all over the world.