11/04/2022 | 5 mins | Energy storage

Pipeline of UK energy storage projects doubles within 12 months

11 April 2022 - RenewableUK press release


A new report released today by RenewableUK shows a surge in the pipeline of energy storage projects which are operational, under construction, consented or being planned.


Batteries play a key role in our modern flexible energy system, helping grid operators to finely balance the supply of electricity to meet demand, and providing extra resources when needed, for frequency response for example. 


Our EnergyPulse Energy Storage report shows that the total pipeline of battery projects has doubled from 16.1GW a year ago to 32.1GW. Operational battery storage project capacity has grown by 45%, from 1.1GW to 1.6GW, and the capacity of projects under construction has more than doubled to 1.4GW. A further 10.4GW has been consented, 7.7GW has been submitted in the planning system and 10.9GW is in development but yet to be submitted.



England has the highest capacity of fully commissioned battery storage projects (1,398MW) and the largest volume of planning applications (6,163MW).


The report notes that this staggering growth has been driven mainly by a change in legislation in December 2020 allowing local planning authorities to determine projects with a capacity of over 50MW in England and 350MW in Wales. Previously these were determined by central Government, making the process longer and more complex. 


As a result there has been a shift towards larger projects, with the average size increasing to 54MW. To put this into context, a 50MW battery can fully charge 2,000 electric vehicles. This growth has been achieved extremely rapidly - a decade ago the average project size was just 2MW.



Nearly 20% of the total pipeline of battery storage projects (6.1GW) are co-located with solar energy projects, mostly in England (5,320MW). This represents almost a threefold increase in battery storage capacity co-located with solar farms since our last report a year ago.


RenewableUK’s Director of Future Electricity Systems Barnaby Wharton said: “The fact that the battery storage pipeline has doubled within the space of twelve months shows that the enormous appetite among investors for this technology is continuing to grow fast. But developers still need access to cheaper capital. Government can help by setting out a long-term vision for the sector, including a clearer and more stable route to market for energy storage. Although we’re making great progress, we’re still some way from delivering the 30GW of operational flexibility which the Government requires by 2030”. 


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RenewableUK’s members are building our future energy system, powered by clean electricity. We bring them together to deliver that future faster; a future which is better for industry, billpayers, and the environment. We support over 400 member companies to ensure increasing amounts of renewable electricity are deployed across the UK and to access export markets all over the world. Our members are business leaders, technology innovators, and expert thinkers from right across industry.


The statistics were compiled in March 2022. 


Our EnergyPulse database aggregates publicly available data, which is usually presented in power (MW) rather than energy stored (MWh).


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