A new report released by RenewableUK shows that 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 shows that the total pipeline of battery projects has increased from 50.3GW a year ago to 84.8GW, an increase of nearly 70 per cent.

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 per cent 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 noticeable 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.

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