Co-location is responsible for 20% of the expected growth in energy storage capacity in Britain and Ireland, with total planned capacity for projects in Britain at 85GW/175GWh, says Mollie McCorkindale of Solar Media Market Research.
The energy storage market in the UK is currently experiencing substantial growth, as evidenced by the current operating capacity of 4.6 GW/5.9 GWh, which is expected to increase to 7.4 GW/11.6 GWh by the end 2024.
Installed capacity is increasing steadily every year, which is due to a remarkable increase in both the number of submitted and approved building applications.
Similarly, co-located energy storage with solar farms in the UK is following a similar trend, with 312 MW/465 MWh currently in operation. This capacity is expected to increase to more than 1 GWh by the end of 2024.
Planned storage at the same location as solar projects
The graph below shows the total planned capacity (including projects from screening/scoping to under construction) in MWh of energy storage in the UK per year, with capacity shown next to solar in yellow.
During the initial stages of the planning process, many developers only quote for the megawatt (MW) capacity being developed. Therefore, we estimate that most of these projects will have a duration of at least 2 hours. However, it is important to note that as energy storage technology advances, these estimates may ultimately be higher.
The total planned capacity for energy storage projects in Britain is 85 GW/175 GWh, of which 20% will come from co-located storage with solar sites.
Looking at the chart above, the energy storage market saw initial activity in 2015, followed by a wave of applications in 2017. Then there was a slowdown for a few years; but since 2019 there has been a significant increase year-on-year.
The increase in 2017 can be attributed to the successful EFR (Enhanced Frequency Response) auction in 2016, which encouraged developers to submit applications. Recent growth has been driven by the successful approval and completion of previous projects, as well as the increase in average project size.
The total planned capacity for 2023 is almost 60GWh. This annual increase is expected to continue into 2024, as large-scale projects – including those already on the TEC register – are included in the planning.
The total planned capacity for energy storage projects in Great Britain is 85 GW/175 GWh, including any submissions to local planning authorities, whether full applications or scoping/screening applications. Of this total, 20% comes from storage capacity next to solar energy locations, with the share increasing every year. By 2023, more than 25% (15GWh) of the total capacity will come from storage at the same location as solar energy locations.
In addition, Innova Renewables has submitted a project in 2023 (co-located with 49.9 MWac of solar energy), with a storage capacity of more than 1 GW (and likely a duration of at least 2 hours). This is the largest co-located storage project submitted in the UK to date.
Submitted/approved/built capacity
The following chart (below) illustrates the cumulative submitted, approved, and built capacity of energy storage systems co-located with solar. The capacity submitted represents projects that have submitted a full construction application.
Operational capacity for energy storage in addition to solar currently stands at 312 MW/465 MWh, with a major pipeline to follow.
Currently, the total operational energy storage capacity in Britain is 4.6 GW/5.9 GWh, and this is expected to double in the coming years, with 4.9 GW/10 GWh of projects under construction.
Of the operational capacity, 312 MW/465 MWh comes from co-located storage with solar sites, while 430 MW/680 MWh is currently under construction.
Applications for these types of projects started mainly in 2014, but substantial capacity growth started in 2016. Significant market activity was observed in 2019 as capacity began to increase rapidly every quarter.
Submitted capacity for co-located solar storage has exceeded 20 GWh, with approved capacity now at 11.5 GWh, and 3 GWh of this capacity has been approved so far in 2024.
There is a clear connection between the submitted and approved assets. However, built capacity is expected to increase soon, similar to the rapid increase in deployment levels in the overall energy storage market.
Build closure status of storage projects on the same site as solar
The graph below illustrates the status of the construction of energy storage facilities next to solar projects, based on their capacity in MWh.
The total market capacity for co-located solar storage is 43GW/86GWh.
Most early-stage projects – particularly those in the “pre-application” and “speculative” phases – are estimated to have a duration of two hours, which is likely to increase as technology advances. The “Speculative” projects consist mainly of locations from the Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register, and many of these projects have connection dates planned for 2030 and beyond. It is uncertain which of these locations will actually enter the construction phase.
The total market capacity for co-located solar storage is 43GW/86GWh. Excluding the “Speculative” projects, the capacity is 22GW/45GWh, which represents projects that are in the planning process or in the construction phase. To date, the majority of operational solar storage capacity has been less than 50MWh, with the majority coming from projects with a capacity of less than 5MWh.
Projects in the ‘Application Approved’ phase show different sizes, with some ranging from 5 to 20 MWh. However, capacities in the earlier development phases, including ‘Application Submitted’ projects or ‘Pre-application’ projects, are almost all larger than 100 MWh.
Currently, 380 MW/600 MWh is already under construction, with a significant amount of additional capacity to follow, including 5.2 GW/11 GWh approved in planning. Since it takes 2-3 years from application approval to final commissioning, this operational capacity can be expected to increase significantly in the future.
Storage in Ireland, at the same location as Solar
Looking further into Ireland, the following graph shows the capacity of energy storage beyond solar in the country, segmented by project size and quarter. The submitted capacity in 2023 was the highest since the inception of the market.
The total operational energy storage capacity in Ireland is over 700 MWh, of which only 36 MWh comes from storage capacity co-located with solar sites.
In Ireland, the planning process does not require prior applications; as such, the chart above only reflects complete application submissions.
The graph uses MW instead of MWh because it is still too early for Ireland, making it difficult to estimate the duration of the projects.
Currently, the total operational energy storage capacity in Ireland is over 700 MWh, of which only 36 MWh comes from storage capacity co-located with solar sites.
The fluctuations and random spikes in the graph are due to larger than normal projects being submitted at different times. Despite this, the graph still shows a trend of increasing annual submitted capacity, with 2023 showing the largest amount.
Ireland is following a similar trend to Britain in co-located solar storage, with 20% of Ireland’s total planned energy storage capacity allocated to co-located solar.
In conclusion, the energy storage market in Great Britain and Ireland is growing rapidly, and this growth is expected to be followed by an increase in the number of energy storage projects in addition to solar facilities.
In the UK, co-located solar storage has a pipeline of 22 GW/44 GWh (excluding speculative projects), the majority of which is expected to be operational by 2030. In Ireland, co-located storage with the solar market has a pipeline of 1.5 GW/2.4 GWh and is steadily increasing.
All data and analysis in this article comes from our internal market research at Solar Media Ltd. Full details on how to subscribe to our UK Battery Storage Project Database Report And Republic of Ireland Battery Storage Project Database Report can be found here.
This article was first published on Energy storage.news.
