EDP ventured into the EU solar market in 2021. Image: Pixabay.

Wind and solar producer EDP Renewables (EDPR) will install its first standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Europe, located in Kent, UK.

EDPR announced on Wednesday (26 July) that it had secured the two-hour 50MW BESS asset from the services of Tupa Energy, a British-based battery and solar developer.

The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2024 and will play a role in grid management.

“The integration of storage systems will play a crucial role in the renewable energy mix of the future, as it will contribute to address the challenge of intermittency. By mitigating the impact of external factors that can affect availability, these systems are key in overcoming one of the main limitations faced by renewables across Europe, while producing no emissions”, said Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, CEO of EDP Renewables.

The acquisition of this UK-based BESS asset will support EDPR in achieving its strategy of having over 500MW of storage capacity available by 2026. This is expected to be achieved via co-location whereas a smaller portion will be from smaller assets such as the Kent BESS project.

EDPR has nearly 200MW of contracted storage capacity in North America and over 4MW under construction in the Asia-Pacific region.

Although this is the company’s first foray into the UK market for BESS, in 2021, the firm entered the UK onshore market via the acquisition of 544MW wind and solar portfolio, as reported by Solar Power Portal.