The renewables arm of BayWa has acquired the project rights to develop a 75MW co-located solar storage project in Yorkshire, England.
The Driffield project, located near Kingston-Upon-Hull, combines a 45MW PV solar energy production site with 30MW battery storage using the same grid connection.
This makes it one of the UK’s first co-locations for PV and battery energy solar storage with shared grid export capacity, BayWa r.e. said.
The fully consented PV project was acquired from Harmony Energy and is set to begin construction at the end of 2022 and will be completed in early-mid 2023.
Once up and running, the site will produce 45 gigawatt-hours of energy every year which is the equivalent to the annual electrical needs of approximately 11,400 family homes, BayWa r.e. said.
The local community will be supported through a benefit package, while biodiversity measures include tree and shrub planting as well as the creation of new grassland habitats throughout fields at the site, the developer added.
BayWa r.e. UK head of energy storage and hydrogen Stefan Tait said: “We are delighted to add this combined PV and storage project to our portfolio and take it through the next development stages.
“Innovative concepts like co-located storage are a fantastic opportunity for efficient solar energy production.
“We’re very proud to be building one of the first projects in the UK and we have strong ambitions to become a leader in this space.
“In line with this, we’re making rapid progress with our plans to increase our co-located storage pipeline in the UK – an increasingly dynamic market.”
BayWa r.e. said it has also signed a new operations and maintenance contract, in partnership with Ingenious, for two storage sites, Bourne Park South Storage and Slepe Farm Storage, both in Dorset.
BayWa r.e. director of services EMEA Max Methe said: “Diversifying our operation and maintenance services for new and existing customers is a key focus for us and securing this new storage project is a great step to take.
“It underlines our ambitions at BayWa r.e. to be not only a leading developer but also service provider for storage technologies, that ultimately optimise the productivity of renewable energy assets and have the potential to propel Europe’s energy transition forward.”