Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Developer Firstway Energy has provided the planning allocation for three Bess developments throughout England.
The three projects, which together have a capacity of 400 MW, are located in the West Midlands, Lincolnshire and Cheshire regions and each have a capacity of 100 MW or 200 MW.
The Bicker Reed Project, a 100 MW proposal in Boston, Lincolnshire, will be at 13.5 Hecatres of Land. After the submission of a planning application in September 2024, Boston’s Borough Council granted the full approval for the project for a lifespan of 40 years, after which the country is returned to its original agricultural use.
The building permit was submitted to the Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for the 100 MW ILEY LANE BESS in August 2023. The development, which will be on 5.2 hectares of land in Halesowen, Dudley, will feed directly on the nearby Kitwell substation . Although the date has not yet been revealed before the start of construction, FIRSTWAY ENERGY has already secured a solid grid connection date of October 2026.
The largest of the projects, the 200 MW Mill Hey Development, will be located in Capenhurst, Cheshire and will be connected directly to nearby Capenhurst sub -station. FIRSTWAY ENERGY announced that it had applied for the planning allocation for the project, which was on a 6.2 hectare site in July last year.
“We are pleased to get approval for these projects and want to thank the authorities for recognizing the ever -increasing interest and need for energy storage facilities,” said Nathan Stevenson, country director at Firstway Energy.
“We are looking forward to working with the National Energy System Operator (NESO), National Grid Electricity Distribution (Nged) and SP Energy Networks (SPEN) when accelerating the grid connections, because all three locations will benefit from a ‘ Protected “gate 2a -grid connection,” he said.
Bess is increasing in the UK
The news of this and other recent Bess inspections is a welcome start of 2025 after a somewhat slower year for Bess.
The latest figures from the UK Battery Storage Project Database Report from Solar Media Market Research Brand on that 7GWH from Bess capacity of the Grids scale came online in 2024, of which about 1.5 GW was completed all year round. This is approximately 28% lower than the previous year, where the number of projects submitted for planning applications decreases by 21% and the MWH capacity that is requested also decreased by a total of 40%.
However, the analysis of this suggests that developers can concentrate on the construction of projects instead of getting more projects in early development, especially because 2024 received a record volume of Bess capacity approval than any previous year. There are currently 101 GWh of projects that have been received in the UK, with more than 18GWh of projects under construction.
In the meantime, the Irish market, which is in an earlier phase of development, saw considerable growth last year. Ireland has more than 1 GWH capacity online and the capacity grew by 11%last year. The submitted capacity in Ireland shot up in 2024, with 63% to reach 7.4 GWH, including a 1GWH proposal from developer feedback energy for a project using the new ‘Iron-Air’ battery technology from US Company Form Energy.
