Independent power producer (IPP) Greenvolt Power and Danish B2B electricity provider and trader Reel have signed a partnership to deliver balancing and optimisation services for the Høegholm hybrid energy park, which is currently under construction in Denmark.
The project will include 97.4MW of solar PV capacity and be co-located with a 60MW/120MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). Greenvolt power expects to begin commercial operations at the project’s solar facility this quarter, and begin commercial operations at the BESS portion by the end of this year.
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“The Høegholm project is a prime example of the future of renewable energy—hybrid assets that combine generation with flexibility,” said Anders Engtoft Meldgaard, Reel CCO and co-founder. “By leveraging our optimisation platform, we will ensure that the renewable energy produced at Høegholm is delivered when the grid needs it most, maximising both climate impact and commercial performance.”
The companies said that Reel would use its “proprietary trading technology and market expertise” to manage the project’s involvement in wholesale, intraday and ancillary service markets. Reel will also offer “optimised hedges” to Danish corporates through power purchase agreements (PPAs), which could be an effective example of the potential that batteries have to create stability in Europe’s fluctuating power price environment.
At last week’s Energy Storage Summit, hosted in London by PV Tech publisher Solar Media, panelists spoke about the opportunities for storage to provide flexibility services in some of the most lucrative, but simultaneously volatile, energy markets on the continent.
“In Spain, we have a lot of volatility driven by PV, for sure, reaching quite a lot of negative hours a day, which is quite good when it comes to the location of BESS,” explained Mikel Pino, head of energy storage Europe at Exus Renewables.
Indeed, figures from Pexapark show a lack of consensus around PPA pricing in Europe, which the analyst said was slowing down dealmaking on the continent late last year, suggesting significant variation in estimations of power price and project value across Europe.
However, a panel on the second day of the event saw speakers point out that simply adding a BESS asset to an underperforming solar PV project is not a “silver bullet” to generate profits, and that assets need a strong business case on their own merits, regardless of the technology being used.
“Co-location has a place, but I think it’s quite overhyped by a lot of people,” explained Tom Smout, head of energy storage at consultancy LCP Delta. It can be good business, but for quite boring reasons, where it’s a good way to use the land that you have, with a great connection that you have, and those are meaningful assets.
“And sometimes good business is just using the assets that you have and realising the value of them.”
Greenvolt, for its part, sought additional financing for the project’s BESS component last October, and noted that the addition of the BESS facility would increase the output of the solar PV component of the project.
