Halfway through 2018 and large-scale battery storage in the UK has reached over 450MW installed capacity, with around 250MW being completed this year alone. This is made up of projects bigger than 1MW, including larger behind the meter projects that have begun to emerge.
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity with supply contracts being awarded, projects changing hands as well as those being completed. With sites under construction from the likes of Centrica, Anesco and Ørsted, and when projects from UK Power Reserve recently awarded to Fluence are factored in, it seems very like that the capacity installed in 2018 could reach over 500MW.
After a slow start to the year, which saw FFR prices falling and Capacity Market revenues become more difficult to access, it looked like energy storage could be cut off before it had really got started. However, the energy industry is never one to sit still and immediately companies started discussing the opportunities in behind the meter storage, which is much less vulnerable to fluctuations in external revenue streams by providing wider benefits to the site owners.
The pipeline which we have been tracking for the past two years has reached over 8GW and we are now seeing the successful completion of projects proposed back in 2016 as more continue to add to the total pipeline.
Development timelines are also being reduced, with some projects only submitted into planning in the second half of 2017 already completed. Compare this with the two years it has taken for Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) projects to come through and it’s plain to see just how quickly the industry is bringing new projects forward.
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