Black & Veatch appointed as owner’s engineer for Eccles battery storage project

The facility is projected to deliver a capacity of 500MW/1GWh, enough energy to power approximately 100,000 homes, reinforcing grid stability and enhancing energy security for the UK.

Situated along major transmission corridors between Scotland and England, the Eccles project represents Matrix Renewables’ first entry into the UK market. By harnessing advanced battery storage technology, the site will provide critical flexibility to the national grid, ensuring renewable energy can be stored and dispatched when needed most.

As owner’s engineer, Black & Veatch will provide comprehensive technical support throughout project execution. This includes EPC design review, construction monitoring, commissioning supervision and oversight of initial operations. Their role is pivotal in supporting the plant to operate safely in compliance with permits, and to ensure performance requirements are met.

Black & Veatch’s EMEA managing director, Rafael E Frias III, said: “For more than one hundred years, Black & Veatch has stood at the forefront of providing human critical infrastructure in more than 100 countries.

“By applying our global experience in battery storage to the Eccles project, we’ll help Matrix deliver energy resilience and create reliable storage infrastructure for the UK grid. Black & Veatch will leverage our EPC expertise, local knowledge and skilled leadership to execute this project to the highest quality and standards of safety.”

Sergio Arbeláez, managing director Europe & Latam at Matrix Renewables, added: “We are excited to partner with Black & Veatch for our Eccles project. This shows commitment to deliver on our business plan in the UK alongside reliable and trustworthy partners that will add value to our projects.”

The Eccles project directly supports the UK Government’s net zero strategy, ensuring renewable energy can be reliably integrated into the grid while contributing to the UK Government’s current ambition to increase resilience in the grid, with a resilience strategy due to be published next year.