Habitat Energy begins trading the biggest battery in the UK Balancing Mechanism

Habitat Energy is pleased to announce its entry into the UK Balancing Mechanism (BM) via the Virtual Lead Party (VLP) route, becoming only the second operator to achieve this.

On Wednesday September 2nd 2020, Habitat went live in the BM with 69 MW / 100 MWh of storage. The 74MWh Longridge battery, one of the two sites involved, is currently the largest battery in the BM. Both assets are owned by Gresham House. The sites were both used extensively by National Grid over the course of the first day, responding over 80 times to National Grid requests.

Phil Robinson, co-founder and director of Habitat Energy said, “The BM represents a core revenue opportunity for batteries. It’s great for the industry that National Grid ESO’s Wider Access initiative is having a real impact.”

Ben Guest, Managing Director at Gresham House said, “This is an important milestone for Habitat and the projects they optimise for Gresham House Energy Storage Fund. We are delighted to have reached this stage together.”

Habitat Energy became a Virtual Lead Party in May 2020, a new role created as a part of the Wider Access initiative set out in the BSC Modification P344. The two sites will participate in the 3rd phase of the Reserve from Storage trial due to begin later this week, as well as Dynamic Containment & TERRE, both of which launch later this year.