Monday 2 December 2019
‘Massive growth’ in energy storage charts path towards net zero
The energy storage market in the UK is developing “extremely rapidly”, with the pipeline of projects expected to continue growing in capacity and size.
That’s according to a new report from RenewableUK, which found the total cumulative capacity of battery storage planning applications has soared from nearly 6,900MW a year to more than 10,500MW today – enough to fully charge more than a million electric vehicles (EVs).
Batteries play a key role in the modern flexible energy system, helping grid operators to balance the supply of electricity to meet demand and provide extra power resources when needed, charting the path towards the UK’s net zero goal.
The number of UK companies involved in the sector has risen from 300 to more than 450 over the past 12 months and the average battery project size has increased slightly from 27MW to 28MW.
The pipeline of projects is expected to continue growing and an increasing number of grid-scale battery projects of more than 50MW in capacity are expected after BEIS agreed to change planning rules earlier this year, which have, up to now, deterred development at this scale.
The report adds renewable developers are at the forefront of the market with companies like KiWi Power and RES – and energy giant EDF recently moved into the market with the buyout of Pivot Power, which has one of the largest portfolios of storage projects in development in the UK.
Companies like Siemens and Highview Power are developing hydrogen, ammonia and compressed air technologies – the UK has a pipeline of more than 600MW of compressed air or liquid air storage projects in development.
Gravitricity is developing gravity-based storage, OXTO Energy is pioneering the use of flywheels in energy storage and RheEnergised is developing dense liquids as an alternative to pumped storage.
Barnaby Wharton, RenewableUK’s Director of Future Electricity Systems said: “As we build the net zero energy system of the future based on renewables, we’re changing the way we manage the entire network, using a wide variety of extraordinarily innovative storage technologies. The pace of change in the industry is hugely exciting.
“Energy storage has reached a tipping point with major companies entering this new market, providing new services to guarantee the security of our energy supplies and maximising the amount of power available, providing massive benefits to consumers.”
