Arenko to deploy optimization platform for Ørsted's 300MW UK storage in Q1 2027

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Arenko will deploy its Nimbus optimization, trading, and asset management platform for Ørsted's 300 MW/600 MWh Iceni battery energy storage project in the UK. The project is scheduled to commence operations in the first quarter of 2027.

The Iceni battery energy storage project is being developed in tandem with Ørsted's 2.9 GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm, without a separate grid connection, instead sharing Hornsea 3's onshore connection and transmission infrastructure. The project is one of the first large-scale initiatives under the UK's Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR) Pathfinder program, which explores pathways for generation and storage to share grid infrastructure.

This sharing model aims to enhance grid utilization efficiency, but it also adds complexity to optimization tasks. Wind power and battery storage must be coordinated through a single connection point, with charging, discharging, and market participation decisions adjusted in real time in response to generation output and electricity price fluctuations. Arenko will use the Nimbus platform to handle the battery's trading, optimization, and asset management, which the company says has already been deployed across 14 large-scale co-located projects.

Katinka Hussmann Palbo, Ørsted's Vice President of Global Trading and Revenue, stated that Iceni's appeal lies not only in the battery's scale but also in how it synergizes with Hornsea 3. She noted that the goal is to optimize two distinct assets—wind and storage—through a single shared connection point, while ensuring both deliver meaningful benefits to the grid. The project requires close coordination between forecasting, market trading, and the technical controls linking the battery to the wind farm.

Rupert Newland, CEO of Arenko, said that Iceni combines grid-scale battery storage with one of the UK's largest offshore wind farms, creating a complex structure that presents both significant opportunities and operational and trading challenges—from forecasting and real-time decisions on capacity allocation to the technical, data, and control integration between the two assets. He added that as Ørsted's thinking on flexibility needs continues to evolve, the two companies are working closely together, and projects like this bring substantial generation capacity together with utility-scale storage at a single connection point.

John Kinsella, Ørsted's Iceni Project Director, commented that Iceni is a first-of-its-kind project requiring a platform capable of handling true complexity, and Nimbus delivers on that.

The industry significance of Iceni lies in testing whether co-located generation and storage can avoid the need for separate grid connections. If the model proves viable, it will provide a replicable template for the UK to utilize existing transmission infrastructure more intensively while expanding offshore wind and flexible storage.