Wärtsilä Installing GEMS Battery Storage to Fortify Grid on Scottish Isle

The 68 MW of battery capacity is contracted through United Kingdom grid-scale battery storage operator Zenobē. The so-called Shetland Standby Project will help shore up the intermittency of the islands’ wind power capacity.

EnergyTech Staff

Aug. 4, 2025

2 min read

Image of Shetland settlement Lerwick. Image credit By User:Remdabest/Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Finnish technology firm Wärtsilä will install 68 MW of battery energy storage capacity to shore up power resiliency on the Shetland Islands of Scotland.

The battery capacity is contracted through United Kingdom grid-scale battery storage operator Zenobē. The so-called Shetland Standby Project will help shore up the intermittency of the islands’ wind power capacity and move fossil-fueled Lerwick Power Station into standby mode, thus curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

The battery energy storage system will be activated in the event of a grid outage or planned maintenance of the transmission line from the Scottish mainland, according to Wärtsilä. The Shetland Standby Project is planned to go live in 2026.

“As European grids grow increasingly interconnected and interdependent, projects like this signal the importance of energy storage for grid stability,” said Tamara De Gruyter, President, Wärtsilä Energy Storage and EVP, Wärtsilä, in a statement. “With the advanced and proven capabilities of the GEMS platform, Wärtsilä is helping future-proof the grid with battery systems that can react in microseconds to any type of system disturbance, to maintain security of supply for Shetland.”

The Wärtsilä battery energy storage system will offer several services into the Scottish grid, including distribution fault ride through capabilities and quick response to fluctuations in generation supply and demand. The system’s overall generation capacity is above Shetland’s local load.

This project is the third utility-scale battery storage collaboration between Wärtsilä and Zenobē in Scotland. First was the 200-MW/400-MWh Blackhillock project already in operation, with the 300-MW/600-MWh Kilmarnock BESS in development.

The Shetland Standby Project will use Quantum energy storage technology from Wärtsilä, which will also manage the battery system through its GEMS digital energy platform. The project is supported by a 15-year long-term service agreement.

In the United Kingdom overall, more than 17 GWh of battery energy storage capacity is scheduled to be connected online this year, according to market analysis by PV Tech Research. The UK total operational BESS capacity is estimated at around 5 GW, according to the EnergyPulse blog at RenewableUK.com.

About the Author

EnergyTech Staff

Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

He can be reached at [email protected].

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.