COMMERCIAL CASE STUDY
Battery Energy Storage System Foundations — Huntingdon Solar Farm
Span Blue designed a coordinated foundation solution for Iwell’s containerised Battery Energy Storage System within an operational solar farm near Huntingdon.
CLIENT
Iwell
LOCATION
Huntingdon
SERVICES
Structural design, foundation design, drawing production, services coordination
THE PROJECT
Foundation design for a battery energy storage system within a live solar farm.
Span Blue was appointed by Iwell to design the foundations for a containerised Battery Energy Storage System being installed within an operational solar farm near Huntingdon. The installation comprised three liquid-cooled battery containers and an MV skid—transformer, inverter and switchgear—each requiring a robust, accurately set-out solution capable of supporting sustained heavy plant loads.
Working within a live solar farm presented demanding constraints. The foundation footprint had to be threaded between existing solar arrays, substations and buried HV and LV cable runs, where recorded service positions could only be treated as indicative. Ground conditions also required careful consideration, with the bearing strategy needing to suit the underlying alluvium.
OUR SOLUTION
A precisely coordinated foundation package, designed for first-time installation.
We designed a 275mm reinforced concrete raft slab in RC35/45 concrete for XD3 exposure, reinforced with A393 mesh top and bottom and founded on compacted MOT Type 1 over proof-rolled ground. The slab geometry avoided surrounding structures and services, with coordinated voids cast in for incoming HV, LV and communications connections.
The battery containers and MV skid were raised on precast concrete ground beams, set out precisely to suit each unit’s differing footprint—critical because there was no lifting capacity available to reposition equipment once delivered to site.
THE OUTCOME
A fully coordinated foundation package, delivered for construction.
The package enabled the safe installation of the BESS units within a constrained, live-energy environment—first time, without rework.