Software provider Arenko is running code to expand revenues from the operation of Vattenfall’s 22MW / 16 MWh battery, co-located at Wales’ and England’s biggest onshore wind farm, the 228MW Pen y Cymoedd plot close to the Afan Forest near Merthyr Tydfil.

Established in 2018, the battery project was Britain’s first storage set-up on a wind farm, one of eight selected by National Grid at the time to deliver Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) to the grid, on a contract which expired in February.

Amp accommodation composed of 500 battery packs designed for BMWi3 cars forms the battery’s hardware, re-housed in five shipping containers.

The £400 million farm comprises 76 turbines. Begun in 2014 and operating since 2017, at peak output it can meet 15% of Wales’s power demand.

With its flagship site already hooked to a big coulomb crèche, Vattenfall now seeks trading revenues from ancillary grid services, following the end of the four-year EFR deal.

Pen y Cymoedd has an associated community interest company controlled by local people.  The CIC distributes grants running at £1.8 million each year among voluntary groups and communities situated in the upper reaches of the Neath, Afan, Rhondda and Cynon valleys.

Arenko claims to be the first company to optimise a storage asset co-located with a British wind farm.  Its code effectively repurposes the recycled car batteries for trading by its Swedish client on wholesale, day-ahead and intraday markets.

Arenko is using its cloud-based optimisation software, Nimbus, to forecast market conditions. Performing millions of simulations each day to optimise trading decisions, its software then dispatches stored energy securely and autonomously.

Higher return on investment is promised for asset owners, along with speedier growth of portfolios of flexible assets, where grids demand decisions being made with ever-increasing speed.

Arenko’s founder and CEO Rupert Newland said: “We are delighted to start delivering on our contract with Vattenfall, one of Europe’s leading energy groups. It’s been a great opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy and power of our technology on a co-located asset.”

 Vattenfall’s commercial manager Jake Dunn explained that “Our goal is to enable fossil fuel-free living within one generation.

“We are determined to help this energy transition not just through renewable generation but also supporting grid stability through co-located storage projects.

“Now the EFR contract has come to an end”, Dunn went on, “the battery will move to a more diverse range of ancillary services and we are grateful to be assisted in this by the market leading expertise of Arenko.”

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