1GW giant battery planned to balance UK’s power grid

Bloomberg

Statkraft AS joined with Statera Energy Ltd. to build a 1 gigawatt battery in the UK with a backup generator fuelled by natural gas, part of an effort to profit from the nation’s need to balance its power grid.
London-based Statera will build the battery as well as an array of gas reciprocating engines, Norway-based Statkraft said. The systems will generate power at times of peak demand or when not enough energy is flowing to the grid. Statkraft will name the location for the plant in the next few weeks.
Reciprocating engines work along a similar principle to piston engines and can typically be ramped up quicker than traditional gas turbines. The capacity of the system at 1 gigawatt is almost as much as the electricity that flows from a nuclear reactor. Statkraft will market and manage the balancing services offered by the plant. It will be integrated into its “virtual” green power grid and trading platform in the UK. The company controls 3.8 gigawatts of renewable power generation in the UK.