Press Release
Limejump, the energy tech platform wholly owned by Shell, has entered a commercial partnership with SSDC Opium Power to optimise and manage their 90MW of battery storage across two sites – at Fareham in Hampshire and Fideoak Mill, near Taunton in Somerset.
At 40MW, Fareham is the UK’s largest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that is owned by a local authority, and it is now being fully optimised by Limejump in the National Grid’s Dynamic Containment market. An additional 20MW of battery storage at Fareham will go live in the summer and will be optimised by Limejump as part of this partnership. The 30MW Fideoak Mill site has been operational since 2020, Limejump took over optimisation of this asset in late 2021. Limejump is now optimising Fideoak across several markets including stacking Dynamic Containment with wholesale trades.
Limejump, who has been optimising batteries since 2016, will be utilising their experience gained from over 44,000 optimisation hours in the UK flexibility market to ensure SSDC Opium’s assets are in the right market at the most opportune time. Their sophisticated forecasting combined with their automated scheduling optimisation will remotely bid and optimise SSDC Opium’s full BESS portfolio into wholesale power and ancillary service markets.
Genna Boyle, Limejump’s Head of Renewables & Flexibility said: “As the UK looks to invest in and secure a more sustainable energy future, we’re working harder than ever to support the deployment of renewables and BESS across the UK. We are delighted to have entered an agreement to optimise SSDC Opium Power’s 90MW portfolio. These storage projects, and the others on our platform, are providing resilience and much needed flexibility services to the grid at a particularly crucial and pivotal time for the UK energy system.”
“Our agreement with SSDC Opium comes as the UK Government will soon unveil a new energy strategy, one that is focused on greater energy independence. We expect the Government to lift restrictions on onshore wind and take steps to facilitate more BESS and solar. National Grid ESO’s Leading the Way FES scenario in 2021 predicted up to 13.1GW of BESS by 2030, so we have a real challenge ahead of us to achieve this”
Jason Dobson, Opium Power, said: “We are delighted that Phase 1 of SSDC Opium Power’s Hampshire BESS project is now live and we are looking forward to working with Limejump going forward to maximise the revenue income from this site that will help supplement and fund SSDC’s public services.”
In July 2021, Limejump commenced the optimisation of the 100MW Minety battery in Wiltshire, which is still the largest battery to be optimised in any of National Grid’s ancillary services.
James Forrest, Marketing Manager: 07879 772184 / james.forrest@limejump.com
Alice Jackman, PR Comms Apprentice: alice.jackman@limejump.com
About Limejump – www.limejump.com
A leading energy-tech platform, Limejump provides renewable generators and flexible asset owners a route to the Ancillary and Wholesale markets through sophisticated power purchase agreement products and an agile 24/7 trading and optimisation offering. Combining human trading with sophisticated tech-led optimisation and forecasting, every second of every day, Limejump’s platform analyses millions of data points in real time to intelligently optimise customers’ assets in the right market at the right time. Limejump is driving towards a future where 100% of all energy is renewable.
Limejump, part of the Shell Group, is on a mission to deliver 100% renewable energy, accelerating the UK’s transition to net zero by harnessing big data and renewable technology.
About SSDC Opium – https://www.opiumpower.com/
Opium Power develops, constructs and operates grid scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). The company delivers state of the art BESS with engineering excellence ensuring the highest standards of design, build and components. To date Opium Power has successfully built, energised and currently operates 70MW and a further 20MW in build due to go live in May 2022.
Opium Power joined forces with South Somerset District Council (SSDC) in 2018 to a forma joint venture; SSDC Opium Power. This newly formed company was established to improve the green credentials of SSDC in addition to generating further income to fund public services.
SSDC was the first council in the UK to invest in BESS and has the largest portfolio of any UK Council. In partnership with Opium Power, SSDC has been able to successfully realise the objectives they set out to achieve.
Following the successful partnership with SSDC, Opium Power welcomes enquiries from other local authorities looking to enter this market.