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The pipeline of energy storage projects which are operational, under construction, consented or being planned has increased by more than two-thirds over the last year in terms of capacity.
The EnergyPulse Energy Storage report by RenewableUK shows that the total pipeline of battery projects has increased from 50.3GW a year ago to 84.8GW, an increase of 68.6% (34.5GW).
Operational battery storage capacity has grown to 3.5GW, and the capacity of projects under construction has reached 3.8GW.
A further 24.5GW has been consented, 27.4GW has been submitted in the planning system and 25.7GW is at an early stage of development but yet to be submitted.
England has 60% of the overall pipeline of UK projects (50,763MW) including the highest capacity of fully commissioned battery storage projects (2,872MW). Scotland has the second largest pipeline at 29,506MW.
There has been a shift towards larger projects, with the average size of those being submitted into the planning system this year increasing to 80MW.
To put this into context, a 50MW battery can fully charge 2,000 electric vehicles.
This growth has been achieved extremely rapidly – just over a decade ago the average project size was just 2MW, and by 2021 it had grown to 54MW.
An updated version of the report will be published in May next year, to coincide with RenewableUK’s annual Grid and Storage conference, which will be held in London.
RenewableUK’s director of future electricity systems Barnaby Wharton said: “It’s great to see that our battery storage pipeline has grown by over-two-thirds over the last year, as this demonstrates that there’s a huge appetite among investors to enter this rapidly growing market.
“This puts us well on track to delivering the 30GW of flexibility which the Government says we will need by 2030 to ensure electricity supply always meets demand.
“Getting viable projects connected to the grid is a priority, and industry has welcomed progress on reforming the connections process.
“While the battery market is booming, we need investment in even larger projects to store energy for longer, unlocking further opportunities for us to scale up this cutting-edge technology.
“We’re still waiting for the Government to confirm how they will stabilise revenues for long duration projects.”
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