Adding BESS to an operating PV plant: hybridisation study and grid connection update at Puerto Real III

MET Group owns Puerto Real III, an operating solar PV plant in Cádiz. The question was whether a battery could be added to the existing installation, and at what size relative to the plant already built. Hybridising an asset in operation is not a greenfield exercise: the battery has to fit the existing plant configuration and the grid access already granted, so both the technical case and the permitting route had to be resolved before any investment decision.

One Hub Energy ran the work in two phases. In 2022 we carried out the hybridisation study for PR3, analysing the incorporation of BESS into MET's existing solar PV plant and characterising the resulting configuration of 50 MWp / 44 MWn of PV alongside a 44 MW / 90 MWh battery. In 2023 we took the conclusions into the permitting track and updated the grid access and connection file for the hybridisation. That second phase produced a preliminary project report setting out the modifications needed on the existing plant, with the scope of works defined and the single-line diagram of the hybridised configuration drawn up. The two mandates were sequenced so that the technical sizing fed directly into the A&C documentation rather than being reworked for it.