Battery storage schemes set to soar

Battery storage work is starting to flow through the construction industry and is generating significant opportunities.

Glenigan’s construction research has identified more than 2,000 projects in the development pipeline in the UK that include some form of battery storage.

Battery storage is an increasingly important part of a range of projects. Solar farms, wind farms, and substation projects all need battery storage to store generated energy that is then sold back to the National Grid.

Out of the 2,000-strong pipeline of projects featuring battery storage that has been identified by Glenigan, more than 1,600 of these schemes are in the utility sector.

Schemes are advancing through the pipeline continually with a planning committee due to discuss a £200 million proposal for a 200 MW energy storage facility at Oxcliffe in Lancashire on November 16 (Project ID: 21281121).

Known as Heysham BESS, Energi Generation’s development is not expected to start construction until 2027 even with approval next month, but many other schemes are more advanced and due on site earlier.

Moving on site

Glenigan’s industry intelligence has identified 705 battery storage-related schemes with planning permission and 339 are expected to commence construction in the next 12 months.

Scotland has the largest pipeline of battery storage development, which is unsurprising given that the country generates 39% of the UK’s renewable wind capacity according to the Scottish Government.

There are 452 projects that incorporate battery storage in the pipeline in Scotland and 353 of these proposals have planning permission. Out of this total, 68 schemes are due to begin construction over the next 12 months.

Work should start this Autumn on Flexion Energy UK Storage’s £50 million Fraserburgh Energy Storage Compound in Grampian (Project ID: 22189750).

The battery energy boom in Scotland is also generating swathes of smaller energy schemes in Scotland, which are due on-site over the next year. These range from a £2.7 million scheme in Dyce near Aberdeen (Project ID: 20505936) to a £2 million plan for alterations to an existing energy storage system at a substation in Dunoon (Project ID: 24174642).

Top English regions

The South West has the next largest pipeline of battery storage projects in the UK. Glenigan’s industry research has identified 160 projects and 131 of these proposals have planning permission with 40 due to start construction over the next year.

These range from HB222BRI’s £50 million plan for an energy infrastructure and battery storage plant in Malmesbury in Wiltshire (Project ID: 22028903) to Relay’s £36 million proposal for a 36 MW battery storage farm in Slimbridge (Project ID: 22227838).

Other sectors

The utilities sector is expected to be the main beneficiary of the boom, but projects in all 11 other construction sectors monitored by Glenigan have a pipeline of work coming up.

The industrial sector is the next largest with 108 schemes including battery storage identified and more than half of these proposals – 62 – have planning permission.

Some are moving to site, such as the £20.5 million second phase of the Haribo Warehouse development in Castleford, West Yorkshire, where contractor Caddick is about to begin work (Project ID: 23237991)

Storing up demand

With an increasing shift towards the use of electricity across all sectors, demand for battery storage work should keep the industry busy.