A huge new battery storage facility is to be built on Teesside to help the UK regulate the energy produced by wind or solar power.
Sembcorp Industries is building the facility and said the new battery lithium-ion site at Redcar will be able to store 360Mw of energy.
The Singapore-based group already owns around 1GW of power and storage assets in the UK and said flexible energy sources will play a key role in UK energy supply in future said Andy Koss, its UK chief executive.
“With a growing reliance on renewables, the UK energy system needs to be flexible and able to respond quickly to changes," Koss added.
A lack of wind contributed to the gas price surge earlier this year as electricity generation from renewable sources slumped.
No details on the cost were released, nor if the UK government is contributing any funding to the development.
Lithium-ion batteries generally are a short-term storage option but will be useful when demand on the grid is at critical levels said experts.
Sembcorp (SEUK) said power from batteries at the new plant would be available to the grid in milliseconds if required.
SEUK currently operates 70MW of batteries, with a further 50MW already in the pipeline and due to be operational in early 2022.
The group is also looking to develop a 300Mw clean energy plant, which would take its UK portfolio to 1.6Gw including the new Redcar site.
Other battery sites in the UK include one Shell is running at Minety in Wiltshire, which has 100MW capacity and opened in July.