Acciona Energía will develop two new battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the provinces of Cuenca and Palencia, with a combined power close to 33 MW and with a forecasted start of operation towards the end of 2027, according to the company communicated this Tuesday.
The project planned in Cuenca will be located next to the Bolarque photovoltaic plant (50MWp), in the municipality of Villalba del Rey, and will have a power of 20 MW, as well as a storage capacity of two hours.
In the case of Palencia, the installation will be built next to the El Cuadrón wind farm (22 MW), in the municipalities of Hornillos de Cerrato and Torquemada, and will have a power of 13 MW, with a storage capacity also of two hours.
In a statement, the company details that battery energy storage systems are "fundamental" for integrating renewable energies, as they allow managing the intermittency of technologies such as solar and wind, stabilizing the electrical grid, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and reinforcing the security of electricity supply in the country.
In Spain, Acciona Energía launched in 2017 in Barásoain (Navarra) the "first" hybrid storage plant with batteries integrated into a wind farm connected to the grid and in 2024 installed a storage system with recycled vehicle batteries.
At an international level, among its storage initiatives is the Cunningham project, in Texas (United States), a battery connected to the state electrical grid with a power of 190MW/380MWh.
Additionally, it is building a 200MW/1GWh battery integrated into the Malgarida photovoltaic plant, in the Atacama Desert (Chile), and has recently announced the commissioning of another storage system of 196MW/980MWh at the El Romero photovoltaic plant, also in Chile, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2027.