Field acquires 200MWh Holmston and Drum Farm battery storage sites in Scotland 

Renewable energy infrastructure firm Field has announced the acquisition of Scottish Holmston and Drum Farm battery energy storage sites from RES. 

The Holmston and Drum Farm sites, located in Ayr (South Ayrshire) and Keith (Moray) respectively, have a combined capacity of 100MW/200MWh, with this transaction marking a 200MWh addition to their generation capacity. 

Field plans to bring a further 400MWh of battery sites online over the next two years, now including this acquisition, meaning the firm now has over 4.5GWh of projects in development or in exclusivity with partners. 

Aiming to be fully operational in the next two years, both sites will contribute a range of services to the grid, including balancing electricity supply and demand across the grid. 

As a country, Scotland currently lacks the transmission network infrastructure necessary to deliver surplus green power to areas of demand. 

Field hopes to help plug this gap in network infrastructure with the two sites, storing clean electricity when excess supplies are available and minimising the need for curtailment. 

Katie Marsh, head of corporate development at Field said: “Energy storage is an essential part of this picture, especially in Scotland where so much cheaper, cleaner energy generation is curtailed each year. To take full advantage of the renewable capacity we have available and achieve net zero emissions in Scotland by 2045, we must invest in battery storage as part of the biggest transformation of infrastructure ever seen.” 

Scotland’s curtailment management 

A lack of transmission network infrastructure has been an ongoing problem for Scotland’s renewable energy sector, with multiple studies recently published detailing the causes and symptoms. 

For example, UK think tank Policy Exchange released a report called Turning Wasted Wind into Clean Hydrogen, which identified Scotland as a heavily curtailed area. 

The report then suggested encouraging electrolyser adoption in the region to help displace two-thirds of the 700,000 tonnes of the UK’s annual hydrogen consumption. 

Most recently, in January 2024, a report commissioned by Scottish Renewables argued that the substantial increase in renewable deployment over the last 20 years, paired with what Scottish Renewables called “a decade of under-investment in the UK’s electricity transmission network” has created a system which is “no longer delivering good value”.