© Supplied by Root-Power/DCT Media In this week’s Charging Forward, a report shows up to 5 GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity in Reform-led council areas could be at risk.
Meanwhile, CPI has opened its £12m Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre (AMBIC) at NETPark in County Durham.
Elsewhere, Scottish firm Gravitricity has secured funding for an underground hydrogen storage concept, while Aed Energy will launch a thermal battery pilot in Nigeria.
In international news, Finnish firm Polar Night Energy has completed construction on the world’s largest sand battery.
This week’s UK energy storage headlines:
- Reform-led councils pose risk to 5 GW of BESS capacity, Carbon Brief says
- Scottish firm Gravitricity gets funding for underground hydrogen storage
- CPI opens UK battery materials innovation centre in Durham
- Root-Power secures consent for 38 MW Sunderland BESS
- RES Scottish BESS and Nottinghamshire solar-BESS plans
- UK firm Aed Energy launches thermal battery demonstrator
- International energy storage news: Polar Night Energy’s world’s largest sand battery now operational, Gurin Energy selects TotalEnergies subsidiary Saft for Japanese BESS
Reform-led councils pose risk to 5 GW BESS, report finds
Reform UK’s recent local election success in England could put up to 5 GW of BESS capacity at risk, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
Reform stormed to unprecedented success in English local elections last month, taking control of 10 local authorities, alongside winning mayoral races in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.
Party leader Nigel Farage and deputy leader Richard Tice are both vocal opponents of net zero initiatives, promising to “ban” battery systems and other renewable energy developments.
While the party’s net zero policies have been widely dismissed by economists, the industry has raised concerns about the potential for Reform to stymy planning permission for renewable energy project in the council areas it now leads.
According to Carbon Brief, those 10 areas have jurisdiction over around 5 GW of battery schemes, 786 MW of solar and 56 MW of wind.
While councils do not have direct control over many energy projects in England, Carbon Brief said Reform could still influence local planning decisions.
However, renewable energy planning specialist and Pinsent Masons partner Gareth Phillips told Carbon Brief that Reform-led councils are likely to have “limited effect”.
Gravitricity gets funding for underground hydrogen storage
UK regulator Ofgem has awarded £500,000 funding to National Gas and Edinburgh-based Gravitricity to develop underground hydrogen storage technology.
Gravitricity is developing the H2FlexiStore concept, which involves using purpose-built underground shafts to store up to 100 tonnes of green hydrogen.
The two more commonly used storage systems for hydrogen are above-ground tanks or subterranean salt caverns.
© Supplied by GravitricityHowever, above-ground solutions are limited in size, while salt caverns are restricted to areas with favourable geography.
While firms like Centrica and EnergyPathways are exploring the use of depleted offshore oil and gas fields for hydrogen storage, Gravitricity is aiming for a middle ground between salt caverns and above-ground tanks.
The Ofgem funding will enable a Gravitricity-led consortium to design and model a working system over the next six months, ahead of a potential demonstrator in 2026.
CPI opens UK battery materials innovation centre in Durham
CPI has opened a new specialist facility to accelerate the development and scale-up of breakthrough battery materials in County Durham.
The Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre (AMBIC) at NETPark was established through a £12m investment from Innovate UK.
AMBIC is a joint initiative between CPI and WMG at the University of Warwick – two founding members of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
As demand grows for high-performance, sustainable batteries to power electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage, companies face significant challenges in scaling novel materials for use in industrially valid cell formats.
CPI said its AMBIC site helps address this by combining cutting-edge powder processing and analytical infrastructure with AI-enhanced data collection and high-throughput testing.
The centre will enable companies to de-risk and accelerate the development of their technology by offering flexible access and expert support, CPI said.
CPI chief executive Frank Millar said AMBIC provides the UK battery ecosystem with a “vital capability” to scale and validate materials that “could define the future of energy storage”.
“It gives our partners greater speed and assurance as they translate their technology from laboratory to industrial scale,” Millar said.
Root-Power secures consent for 38 MW Sunderland BESS
UK battery storage developer Root-Power has secured planning consent for a 38 MW/76 MWh BESS project in Sunderland.
Located near Offerton, the site will be able to supply enough electricity to power around 65% of households in Sunderland for two hours once operational, Root-Power said.
The BESS project is Root-Power’s fifth greenbelt BESS to obtain planning permission so far this year, and will deliver a 58% biodiversity net gain.
© Supplied by Root-PowerRoot-Power managing director Neil Brooks said construction of the Sunderland project will “support the reinforcement of electricity infrastructure in the area and provide long term resilience and energy independence”.
This project is one of the oldest in our portfolio, with complex land rights, sensitive nearby heritage assets and a greenbelt location this success is testament to the capabilities of our development team,” Brooks said.
The planning consent comes shortly after Root-Power announced its submission into the UK government’s long duration energy storage (LDES) cap and floor last week.
RES submits plans for 150 MW East Ayrshire BESS
UK independent power producer RES has submitted a planning application to the Scottish government for a 150 MW BESS in East Ayrshire.
The Westport project is located between Coalhall and Ochiltree, and is close to the Coylton substation.
RES said the Westport BESS will support Scotland and the wider UK’s net zero emissions target and help to deliver a “reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity system”.
RES development project manager John Hills said the firm designed the Westport project to “sit sensitively in the local landscape”.
“We recognise the importance of addressing concerns about potential development impact and a key focus of our discussions with the community has been on effective landscaping and biodiversity enhancements,” Hills said.
“Whilst the natural terrain and existing planting already help limit the visibility of this critical infrastructure, we have developed a comprehensive landscaping plan to further reduce visual impact while delivering significant ecological benefits.”
RES submits plans for 600 MW Nottinghamshire solar-BESS
Alongside its Westport BESS, RES has also submitted a development consent order (DCO) application for a combined solar and BESS project in Nottinghamshire
Located at the site of the decommissioned West Burton power station, the Steeple Renewables Project includes 450 MW of solar capacity and a 150 MW BESS.
Altogether, the £224m project could provide clean electricity for 180,000 homes, equivalent to around half of Nottinghamshire’s households.
The Steeple project is expected to create 400 jobs over a 24-month build phase, and deliver a £13 million community benefits package over its operational lifetime.
RES DCO project manager Will Bridges said the submissions marks a “major step forward” for the projects.
“We have made substantial changes to our original proposals, including reducing the area used for solar panels and increasing buffers between residential properties and the panels,” Bridges said.
“We now look ahead to the examination phase and will continue to engage with the local community throughout the process.”
Kings Langley-based RES has developed more than 830 MW of BESS projects in the UK and Ireland, and currently manages over 600 MW of operational storage projects from its control centre in Glasgow.
Aed Energy launches thermal battery demonstrator
UK energy storage developer Aed Energy has announced a thermal battery demonstrator pilot project at Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) in Lagos, Nigeria.
The project forms part of the ZE-Gen programme, which is co-funded by the UK government and the IKEA Foundation, among others.
The ZE-Gen initiative focuses on efforts to provide zero emission alternatives to the more than 25 million petrol and diesel generators used for electricity in developing economies.
Aed Energy said the ZE-Gen funding supports its ambitions to “accelerate clean energy access across weak-grid regions”.
The Aed thermal battery pilot is one of six ZE-Gen demonstrators to receive funding through Innovate UK, and aims to reduce the use of fossil fuel generators.
© Supplied by Aed EnergyDeveloped with PAU and local firm FaithLink Ltd, the project combines rooftop solar with Aed Energy’s modular thermal battery system.
The system stores renewable electricity as high-temperature heat in energy dense composite bricks, which can deliver either dispatchable power or industrial-grade heat for up to 24 hours.
Aed said its technology requires no lithium, combustion or “fragile supply chains”.
The PAU main campus in Lagos consumes around 6.5 GWh of electricity annual, much of which is currently supplied by fossil fuel generators.
Export growth potential for Aed Energy thermal battery
The pilot project will validate the system under real-world conditions and lays the foundation for future commercial rollout, Aed said.
Aed Energy chief executive Rayan Kassis said the ZE-Gen demonstrator is the “first step toward proving that affordable, clean, baseload energy can be delivered reliably, even in regions still heavily dependent on fossil fuel generators”.
© Supplied by AED Energy/ThinkPR“It moves our technology out of the lab and into the field, showing what’s possible when innovation is paired with local partnerships and real-world demand,” Kassis said.
“This deployment lays the foundation for clean energy systems that serve critical institutions, power industrial growth, and open up new export opportunities for UK innovation.”
Aed said the project is already contributing to its growth plans, with the creation of three new UK job roles amid plans to hire more than 150 people globally by 2030.
The firm said the demonstrator could lead to future export-led growth amid ongoing discussions with investors across Europe, North America, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa to developer further commercial pilot deployments.
International energy storage news
Polar Night Energy completes world’s largest sand battery
Finnish firm Polar Night Energy has completed construction of the world’s largest sand battery, delivering 1 MW/100 MWh of thermal power.
Located in Pornainen, the sand battery will deliver thermal energy for the local area’s district heating network. The project will reduce annual CO2-equivalent emissions by around 160 tonnes and allow for oil to be completely phased out.
Developed by Polar Night Energy, the sand battery concept is a high-temperature thermal energy storage system that stores clean and affordable electricity as heat in sand or similar solid materials.
The technology can be used to produce heat for both district heating networks and a wide range of industrial processes.
Polar Night Energy chief operating officer Liisa Naskall said the project is a “powerful example” that “effective solutions for mitigating climate change do exist”.
“Combustion is not a sustainable option for the climate or the environment,” Naskall said.
The Pornainen sand battery stands about 13 metres tall and 15 metres wide, and uses approximately 2,000 tonnes of crushed soapstone as its thermal storage medium.
In summer, Polar Night Energy said the sand battery can cover almost a month’s heat demand in Pornainen, and in winter, close to a week.
Elsewhere, the Tampere-headquartered firm is also working on a €4.2m (£3.5m) pilot project investigating the feasibility of producing electricity from its sand batteries.
Gurin Energy selects Saft for Japanese BESS
Singapore-headquartered Gurin Energy has selected TotalEnergies subsidiary Saft to supply a BESS for a major energy storage project in Fukushima, Japan.
Saft will deliver, install and commission a fully integrated lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery system with a total of over 1 GWh of storage.
Gurin said the BESS will be deployed in its stand-alone energy storage project in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture.
The project will be capable of providing over 240 megawatts (MW) of power for four hours and construction is expected to begin in 2026.
Saft sales and marketing director for energy storage systems Vincent Le Quintrec said Asia is a “critical region” for the long-term growth of the company.
Gurin Energy is primarily owned by Infratril, a New Zealand-based infrastructure investment firm.
Charging Forward, bringing you the latest in UK and international energy storage news, is kindly sponsored by ABB BESS-as-a-Service.
