Field Energy has announced the acquisition of the 200MW Hartmoor battery storage project in England from Clearstone Energy.
The project becomes the latest addition to Field’s 11GW portfolio of battery storage projects in development and construction across Europe.
Located on the outskirts of Hartlepool, Field Hartmoor can store up to 800MWh of electricity, which is enough to power 500,000 homes for four hours when fully charged.
The project will deliver a range of services critical for an energy system increasingly built on renewable energy, such as balancing electricity supply and demand while providing frequency, inertia and stability.
Since securing planning consent for Hartmoor in 2023, Clearstone Energy has worked with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to bring forward the site’s energisation date from 2033 to 2026.
This was achieved following reforms led by the system operator to speed up grid connections for ready and needed projects, and means the scheme will contribute to meeting the UK government’s 2030 clean power target.
Renewable generation in the north east of England is set to increase rapidly by 2030, with 3.6GW of offshore wind from the Dogger Bank project connecting to the grid between 2025 and 2028.
Field Hartmoor will enable this clean energy to be deployed more consistently, rather than suffering from curtailment due to grid inflexibility or network constraints, the company said.
Amit Gudka, chief executive of Field, said: “Transmission-connected battery storage sites like Field Hartmoor can reduce constraint costs, provide stability and reactive power services at a lower cost to bill payers than any other technology.
“These services are essential for the National Energy System Operator if we want to achieve the government’s clean power 2030 target.
“Significantly increasing renewable energy capacity is an important part of delivering the energy transition, but cannot be done in a low cost and stable way unless energy storage capacity grows with it.
“This is why Field is calling on the government, Ofgem and NESO to continue working together to accelerate the deployment and enable greater use of battery storage in order to achieve a net zero energy system.”
Clearstone Energy founder Ben Pratt added: “Increasing UK electricity network flexibility through battery energy storage capacity is critical to delivering on the government’s ambitious clean power 2030 goal.
“The energy system operator’s efforts to work with us to accelerate the project’s grid connection date is testament to its commitment to enabling the rapid build out of UK battery storage.
“Field has a compelling vision for the future of the UK energy system and we’re delighted that they will take the project through construction and into operations.”
Field has three operational battery storage projects at Oldham (20MW/20MWh), Gerrards Cross (20MW/20MWh) and Newport (20MW/40MWh), with seven more in construction or pre-construction stages totalling 450MW/1GWh.
The sale will meanwhile fund the continued development of Clearstone Energy’s 2.2GW pipeline of eight large scale battery storage projects in the UK.
The first project in the pipeline, a 400MW/800MWh facility in Devon, received planning consent in April 2024.