Energy storage

Energy storage is essential to support the wholesale power market’s transition to net zero, maximising and making use of the intermittent power generated from renewable sources and reducing the reliance on traditional fossil fuel generation, thus reducing energy costs and carbon emissions.

 

The UK has natural geographic and topology factors that make it ideally suited for large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) deployment. As a windy island, it will draw much of its power from its wind sources and will not easily be able to take power from neighbouring countries. It is therefore critical that it can store the energy as it is generated as the system becomes more intermittent.

The BESS Portfolio, once built will have a total capacity of 110MW. The first BESS asset, which is a one-hour duration battery, became operational in Q3 of the financial year ended 31 March 2023. It is located in the North of England and has a total capacity of 20MW. The other three BESS assets are located in Scotland (two-hour duration battery; total capacity 50MW), Wales (two-hour duration battery; total capacity 20MW), and the South-East of England (one-hour duration battery; total capacity 20MW). These are expected to become operational during 2023 and 2024.