Biggest storage battery in Europe built near Wiltshire village

The battery at Minety includes two 50-megawatt systems

The biggest storage battery in Europe has been switched on in a field in north Wiltshire.

Larger than a football field, it was made by Pensa Power, a subsidiary of Shell, and took more than a year to construct near Minety in Wiltshire.

The battery will store excess energy generated from renewable sources and feed it into the National Grid.

It is hoped it will be the first in a string of similar installations across the country.

Catherine Newman, chief executive officer of Limejump, who are managing the site, said: "We get excess power when it's very sunny or very windy and that excess power gets stored.

"When we have peaks in demand, everyone turns on their light switches and kettles, we can discharge these batteries to make sure the power is consistent across the national grid."

The Minety site northwest of Swindon is Europe’s largest battery storage development

The 100-megawatt system is the largest of its kind of in Europe and will be used to help balance the UK's electricity demand.

As more power comes from wind and solar, the need for these batteries and similar storage sites is expected to grow.

Leader of Wiltshire Council Councillor Richard Clewer said: "We can take sites like this, we can take renewable energy and then we can make sure we play our part.

"This is a big installation, the largest in in Europe and it's on a tiny site compared to Wiltshire, it's extremely hidden."