The UK plans for 95 percent of its electricity mix to be low-carbon by 2030, but weather conditions can affect the generation of renewable energy, resulting in an imbalance of electricity fed into the grid and the amount consumed.

In the southern English county of Wiltshire, a battery storage project developed by the Chinese company Huaneng in 2019 is helping to secure greater stability and flexibility of power supply in the country.

The battery modules at the facility can store excess energy generated from renewable sources and fed into the country's grid – and then release the energy when it is needed most, providing power to up to 40,000 homes almost instantly.

"The sun or the solar or the wind power disappears suddenly, so they need the battery storage to discharge power within one second," says Zhiqiang Chen, Director of Minety Battery Storage Ltd, "This task is very tough – only battery storage can provide it."

The company has a good relationship with its landlord, a former government minister, but it had to win people over when it first started construction.

"We are the first team to come to the UK to make such a construction," acknowledges Chen. "We must obtain the trust from the residents and the local authority to make them to believe that the battery storage station is an ecological system, and it's friendly to the environment. 

"At that time, nobody knows about the concept because it's very rare in England. It's such a big battery storage product."

The company says the project has been profitable since it started commercial operation, thanks to relatively stable equipment conditions and a thriving market environment.

This report is part of our documentary The Green Silk Road – Connecting Europe's Renewable Grid.  You can watch the whole story here.

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