Centrica expands green power portfolio with purchase of Belgian Batteries

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Centrica has completed the acquisition of an 18 MW battery storage project in Belgium from sustainable Venture Capital firm LRM. 

Commissioned in April 2018, the Terhills battery park is located in Lanklaar/Dilsen-Stokkem, on the Dutch-Belgian border. For the last six years, Centrica has optimised the batteries to deliver flexibility services to the European transmission grid, and attractive returns to LRM.

Centrica has acquired the site as part of its green-focused growth and investment strategy, which will see the Group materially increase investment over the coming years in order to energise a greener, fairer future. 

As one of Europe’s leading providers of flexibility services, Centrica operates a ‘virtual power plant’ in Belgium comprising the 18MW battery, alongside flexible load and generation from a series of industrial customers.

Chris O’Shea, Group CEO at Centrica, said, “We have deep knowledge of the Belgian market, with our amazing Antwerp based team delivering demand side response, grid optimisation and research activities, so we feel very confident investing in battery storage here. And we know Terhills well as we’ve been optimising it for the past 6 years. We’ll continue to maximise the output of the batteries, helping to provide back-up to the renewables grid and encouraging the growth of solar and wind power in Belgium.”  

Tom Vanham, CEO at LRM, said, “We’re delighted to hand the keys across to Centrica to continue the great job they’ve done in optimising the Terhills battery project. The sale allows us to continue our mission of supporting projects that contribute to the prosperity and well-being of the regions of Limburg and Flanders.”

With strong optimisation capability within Centrica, battery storage plants such as Terhills can be adapted in real-time delivering cost-effective energy storage that maximises the utilisation of green electricity available to the grid, whilst securing stable return-on-investment.