Voltalia has announced the beginning of construction of its 32MW/32MWh Hallen battery energy storage system.

The lithium-ion battery asset is to be located near the city of Bristol in the Avonmouth area and comprise of 16 modules of 2MWh unit capacity each. These modules are to be stacked on site to optimise the surface used.

It is to operate across all markets providing frequency, balancing and other ancillary services to the national grid and local grid network.

Commissioning of the Hallen asset is scheduled for Q1 of 2022, with the project amounting to £15 million in investments. It is not yet backed by long-term contracts.

Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia, said the new asset is in line with the company’s strategy of technological and geographical diversification and allows it to “capitalise on our experience in battery storage” which it acquired, in particular, with the commissioning in 2020 of what Clerc said is the largest storage complex in France.

Having been present in the UK since 2012, Voltalia has built and operated 22 solar plant for third-party customers with a total capacity of 193MW. In 2020, it was awarded a 15-year power sales contract with the City of London Corporation for its 49.9MW South Farm solar power plant.