U.K.'s New Policy Set Stage for Europe's Largest Batteries

• New regulations sustain batteries over 50 megawatts in the U.K.
• Planning procedure shortened from 1-2 years to 2-4 months

New guidelines will certainly kick back planning needs for batteries of more than 50 megawatts (MW) in the U.K., Europe's largest utility-scale battery storage space market. New record-sized batteries will likely be launched in the next year or two therefore. Currently, several 50MW batteries in the U.K. jointly hold the European record for the biggest battery.

The brand-new regulations allow projects to receive planning approval in two to four months under regional planning legislations, instead of in one to two years under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime.

In spite of the extensive NSIP procedure, programmers Drax Group, Statera, RWE, ScottishPower and also Hive Energy were already preparing batteries above 50MW. Other developers like Penso Power planned to prevent the process by developing numerous batteries below the 50MW limit at the same website.

The modifications put on new projects and also expansion prepare for existing ones. Projects already put forward under the NSIP regime will certainly still obtain approval as prior to unless the application is withdrawn.