Open-access content [Tanya Weaver](/authors/tanya-weaver) — Thu 6 Mar 2025
**Zenobē, the UK grid-scale battery storage firm, has announced that its energy storage system in Blackhillock, Scotland, has begun commercial operations.**
The project will launch in two phases. The first phase, which has just gone live, comprises 200MW/400MWh. The second phase will follow in 2026 with a further 100MW, a total of 300MW/600MWh.
According to Zenobē, this is the equivalent of powering over three million homes, substantially more than all the households in Scotland, for one hour.
Promoted by the National Grid Electricity System Operator (NESO) in Scotland to improve the long-term stability of the electricity system, the project has been deliberately located between Inverness and Aberdeen to address grid congestion from Viking (443MW), Moray East (950MW) and Beatrice (588MW) offshore wind farms.
In this location, the battery storage system will provide stability services to help grid operators balance supply and demand, increase reliability and reduce constraints.
Fintan Slye, CEO of the NESO, said: “Our 2025 ambition to enable zero-carbon operation of Great Britain’s national electricity network is central to NESO’s mission. The delivery by Zenobē of this grid-forming battery is a major accomplishment and brings us a step closer to this goal.
“Battery storage is critical to the future reliability and affordability of the UK grid and pairing it with this grid forming technology can unlock even greater resilience for a net zero network.”
Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä provided the quantum energy storage system technology. Alongside this system, the Blackhillock site will also use Wärtsilä’s GEMS digital energy platform to remotely monitor, control and optimise the equipment.
Zenobē claims that when the site is fully operational, the project will prevent approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere over the next 15 years, with more wind power integrated into the transmission network.
James Basden, founder and director of Zenobē, said: “Our batteries at Blackhillock are the first to use advanced power electronics to enable a much higher uptake of renewable power on the grid. This dramatically reduces costs to consumers and increases reliability.”
Andrew Tang, vice-president of Wärtsilä Energy Storage and Optimisation, said: “As Britain increases its reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, systems like Blackhillock will ensure that excess power can be stored and then used during times of increased demand.”
Wärtsilä is supplying a second project to Zenobē – the Kilmarnock South 300MW/600MWh storage system, which will be built with Wärtsilä's Quantum High Energy storage system and is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.
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