The battery power will earn revenue through a frequency response balancing contract with National Grid and help Plessey reduce its energy costs through peak-shaving of power supply in response to fluctuations in demand.

Amber Infrastructure Limited provided funding for the project, which was completed by KiWi Power – a company which has built two other BTM battery storage systems in the UK, and aims to build more.

The battery is from Tesla, controlled by KiWi Power’s proprietary hardware and software platform, called KiWi Fruit.

“We are pleased to be announcing one of the first BTM installations of this type in the UK,” said Plessey operations director Mike Snaith. “It is good to know our considerable power consumption can be utilised to help stabilise the National Grid supply by delivering a reliable and sustainable power source. Batteries are an increasingly necessary part of the decarbonisation of the UK’s electricity supply.”

“Behind the meter battery technology makes huge sense for large energy users,” said Tom O’Shaughnessy of Amber. “As part of our strategy for the creation of path-finding sustainable energy projects we hope the BTM battery here at Plessey will encourage further development of BTM projects increasing the flexibility of the electricity network.”

Iain Silvester, CFO at Plessey, shaking hands with KiWi Power CEO Yoav Zingher