Iceni is the world’s first utility-scale battery directly integrated into offshore transmission infrastructure. Rather than securing a standalone grid connection, the project will share transmission assets and an onshore grid connection with Hornsea 3 and is scheduled to become operational in Q1 2027.
As one of the UK’s first large-scale ‘pathfinder’ co-location projects under the Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR), Iceni is designed to improve coordination between generation and storage assets and maximize the efficient use of existing grid infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Arenko will deploy its full Nimbus platform to manage trading, optimization, and asset management of the battery asset.
Iceni is widely regarded as one of the most technically and commercially advanced battery developments in Europe, combining utility-scale storage with the operational complexity of a major offshore wind asset, sharing a single grid connection.
Rupert Newland, CEO, Arenko, said: “Iceni is a highly sophisticated project, coupling a grid-scale battery with one of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farms. This creates significant opportunities, but also operational and trading challenges, from forecasting and deciding how and when to allocate capacity in real time, to the technical, data and controls integrations between the two assets.”
Arenko was selected for its deep expertise in battery optimization, short-term power markets, and flexible asset management.
Rupert added: “We’ve worked closely with Ørsted over time as their thinking around flexibility has evolved, and with projects like Iceni they are taking a pioneering role in bringing truly significant generation capacity and utility-scale storage together. Nimbus is built for that kind of environment, providing the automation and optimization capabilities needed to manage increasingly large and complex assets, across multiple markets.”
Iceni has been described by Ørsted and the market as a ‘blueprint for the future’ of co-located energy infrastructure. As a Path Finder project it is demonstrating how shared grid connections between offshore wind and battery storage can increase output, improve system efficiency, and reduce the need for additional network build-out.
Katinka Hussman Palbo, Vice President, Global Trading & Revenue, Ørsted, said: “What makes Iceni interesting for us isn’t just the scale of the battery, but how it works alongside Hornsea 3. We are aiming to optimize two very different assets, wind and storage, through a shared connection point, while ensuring that both deliver significant value to the grid.”
John Kinsella, ICENI Director, Orsted said: “Iceni is the first of its kind, and that demands a platform built for genuine complexity. Nimbus delivers that.”
Arenko’s Nimbus platform is increasingly being adopted to manage and monetize complex co-located projects, having been deployed across 14 large-scale co-location projects to date. Data from existing Nimbus-enabled assets shows that automated trading strategies can enable co-located systems to match—and exceed—the revenue performance of standalone battery projects, with several of these assets performing in the upper percentiles for annualized revenue performance.
Originally developed in the UK BESS market, Nimbus is now deployed across more than 1.2 GW of utility-scale battery, hybrid, and renewable generation assets across the UK, Europe, and the US.
