Europe’s largest renewable energy generator Statkraft has signed a trading and optimisation services deal with Eku Energy.
The deal surrounds Eku Energy’s Loudwater battery energy storage system (BESS), a 40MW/55MWh BESS development that is currently under construction. Statkraft will provide optimisation and trading services for the Loudwater BESS development when it is commissioned, which is is expected to happen in mid-2025.
Initial plans for the Loudwater BESS, which is located near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, were announced in early 2023. Construction began on the project in February of last year, at the same time as Eku Energy’s Basildon BESS also began construction.
Eku Energy currently has 4.6GWh of BESS projects in development, construction and operation across the UK, Australia, Italy and Japan, and has set a target of delivering 9GWh of BESS capacity by 2028.
This deal brings Statkraft’s contracted capacity in its British third-party flexible generation and battery storage optimisation portfolio to around 2.7GW. The firm launched its flexible generation optimisation and trading services business in 2018.
Nick Heyward, Statkraft’s head of storage for markets in UK and Ireland said that the firm was pleased to be entering into a new partnership with Eku Energy, stating: “Through our flexible-asset optimisation capabilities and innovative battery hedging solutions, we look forward to supporting Eku Energy in delivering key energy transition projects such as Loudwater.”
Meanwhile, Elias Saba, chief technology officer at Eku Energy praised Stakraft for their role in the deal, noting: “Throughout our engagement, Statkraft demonstrated their advanced optimisation capabilities and innovative trading offerings”.
Big year for Eku Energy
This announcement comes less than ten days after Eku Energy announced it had massively expanded its BESS development pipeline in the UK.
Earlier this month, Eku Energy took on seven planned BESS projects from renewable energy firm Bluestone Energy with a combined pipeline capacity of 1GW/2GWh. These include a 98MW/196MWh project in Leatherhead, Surrey, the 98MW/196MWh Sturts Farm project in Dorset, and two 240MW projects located in Ninfield, East Sussex, and Rochester in Kent.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of this year, and marks the next step in Eku Energy and Bluestone Energy’s longstanding collaboration. The two firms have collaborated together under a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) since 2022, allowing the companies to jointly identify and progress plans for BESS developments, which Eku Energy construct and build.
