Finland’s Huge Battery-Storage Project to Start Construction

Article content

(Bloomberg)-The battery storage project, which will become the largest in Finland, has been granted to start construction.

Article content

Article content

The final investment decision, which was taken in late February by Seb Nordic Energy Locus Energy and Ingrid AB, means that construction in Nivala will start immediately. Niklas Baker, chief strategy official in Ingred in an interview, and refused to provide financial details, said that the 70-megawatt system-which can store energy for two hours-will work in the second half of next year.

Article content

The emerging sector in the energy market grows rapidly as the need to store excess electricity grows. With Europe installed the most renewable intermittent sources, energy prices have become more volatile and are increasingly declining to less than zero. When this happens, batteries can get money to take electricity from producers and store it for later use.

“It is a milestone for us, the first project outside the borders of Sweden,” said Baker. “We know the Finnish market well, it is completely integrated in the northern system. They build a lot of wind at the present time and there is a great demand for the budget. There is also a deep market during the day we find especially attractive.”

Bloombergnef expects storage additions in 2035 to be ten times larger from now. She said in a November report that the current expansion is led by China, the United States, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Finland's energy generation market is among the most volatile market in Europe. It was 725 hours negatively last year, an increase of only five hours in 2021, exceeding 455 hours in Germany and all other European countries, according to Aurora Energy Research data.

Article content

“We are witnessing a major challenge in Finland, since it is increasing the intermittent and great expansion in Baseload with the Olkiluoto-3 reactor that comes online recently,” said Baker. “If you have a lot of production, you will get negative prices.”

Why can energy prices become negative and what it means: QuickTake

It will be Ingrid, who will hold a minority stake in the project, is the manager and director of the asset of the facility. Locus Energy holds a majority share.

Ingred also expands beyond the batteries only. It has a team from 15 to 20 developed traders who focus on buying and selling electricity and helping to improve networks.

The two companies also cooperate in building 13 battery systems throughout southern Sweden, which will add 196 megawatts of flexible capacity, a partnership announced in September. It is scheduled to be ready in the second half of this year.

Another large battery project, with a capacity of 70 megawatts/160 megawatts, is scheduled to be designed in Sweden by the Delta Capacity Group and the Wood & Co Investment Company after the final investment decision earlier this year.

Article content