Sungrow commissions 1,243 MWh Hams Hall BESS in 20 days

Contents

PowerTitan 2.0 next to National Grid’s substation
Three factors behind the 20-day delivery
Second phase to lift capacity to 1,424 MWh

PV inverter and energy storage provider Sungrow, together with global energy storage owner-operator BW ESS, has commissioned the Hams Hall battery energy storage system (BESS) in the West Midlands, UK. The 350 MW / 1,243 MWh system went from grid connection to commercial operation in 20 days. Sungrow expects the project to be Europe’s largest operational BESS by storage capacity (MWh).

PowerTitan 2.0 next to National Grid’s substation

According to Sungrow’s announcement, issued in London on 3 November 2026, the Hams Hall project sits next to National Grid’s Hams Hall substation and uses Sungrow’s PowerTitan 2.0 system with grid-forming technology. The facility is intended to help balance electricity supply and demand as the UK adds renewable capacity, support renewable integration and strengthen grid resilience.

Three factors behind the 20-day delivery

Sungrow attributes the short timeline to three factors. The company deployed BESS engineers on site, so technical issues could be resolved with direct input from its technology teams and less reliance on remote escalation. During warm commissioning, ahead of hot commissioning, the team focused on fault identification and chiller operation, while operational technology (OT) engineers supported system integration and troubleshooting during hot commissioning. The customer had representatives on site almost daily and set up escalation channels to Sungrow’s headquarters.

James Li, Vice President, Europe at Sungrow, said the project required engineering expertise, careful preparation and close collaboration, with the teams working alongside BW ESS to resolve challenges quickly. Nan Jia, Chief Technology Officer at BW ESS, described bringing a 1,243 MWh system into commercial operation in 20 days as a remarkable result made possible by treating the work as a shared engineering challenge.

Second phase to lift capacity to 1,424 MWh

A second phase is expected to raise the total capacity to 400 MW / 1,424 MWh. BW ESS estimates that at full capacity the system could meet the electricity needs of around 1.3 million homes for up to 3.5 hours. Hams Hall builds on the two companies’ earlier work on the Bramley BESS in Hampshire.