Investment group, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), have announced a partnership with developers, Alcemi, on the construction and operation of a four gigawatt (GW) portfolio of energy storage assets deployed across the UK, with the aim to support the integration of renewable energy capacity and the transition to net-zero by 2050.
The projects, currently in late-stage development, have planned energy storage capacities of between 300MW and 500MW each, with a storage duration of up to four hours, making them some of the largest energy storage projects in Europe, according to the two companies.
They are being developed at strategic locations that will support the transmission system by limiting the impact of network constraints. This will help reduce the overall cost of energy for consumers as well as lower the carbon intensity of the UK power sector, ensuring better utilisation of the available renewable energy resource and limiting the need for fossil fuel (primarily gas-fired) power generation during periods of peak demand.
Alcemi originated and will continue to develop the projects with the support of CIP and Alcemi’s founding investor Susgen. Procurement activities will be primarily led by CIP and initiated later this year ahead of the construction of the first project, which is scheduled to start in 2023. Further projects are expected to go into construction regularly and then energise throughout the second half of this decade.
“We are thrilled to work with such a significant and strategic partner as CIP. This is an important step to enable the build-out of our portfolio of energy storage projects, making a significant contribution towards achieving net-zero by 2050”, said Mark Williamson, CEO of Alcemi.
“We are pleased to partner with Alcemi on such an exciting portfolio of large-scale battery energy storage projects. We expect these projects to enable a cost-efficient transition towards the low carbon, highly resilient power generation sector in the UK. We look forward to supporting Alcemi in the development of these projects and adding value through our own activities”, said Christian Skakkebæk, senior partner at CIP.
