Grid-scale BESS projects with a total capacity of 1,358 MW and a capacity of 3,700 MWh were granted construction permits in October.
The figure comes from Solar Media Market Research Battery Storage: UK Pipeline & Completed Assets Database Report.
It is the largest approval by capacity for battery energy storage systems (BESS) since July, when around 5GW/10GWh was given the green light by local authorities or central government. The numbers are posted monthly by our sister site Energy-Storage.news‘ on a subscription basis ESN premium to offer.
Notable projects that received the green light last month include: Qair UK’s 342 MW Red Moss BESS project in South LanarkshireScotland, and Evolution Power’s 165 MW Stonestreet Green solar-plus-storage project in Kent, England, as reported by Solar energy portal.
Due to their size, both projects were approved at national level: Red Moss by the Scottish Energy Consents Unit (ECU) and Stonestreet Green by Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband through a Development Consent Order (DCO).
Britain has 7,862 MW/11,765 MWh of grid-scale operational capacity, with almost 2 GW/3.5 GWh in 2025 alone, up 36% year-on-year, with two months to go.
With the recent influx of new approvals, Solar Media’s Market Research estimates the approved capacity that could join the aforementioned ever-growing figure at more than ten times greater: 77.9 GW/162.5 GWh, far more than what is needed in Britain. However, the challenge of obtaining a building permit is only one hurdle to realizing a project.
Some developers continue to supply, with approximately 20 GWh under construction. This figure is dominated by large-scale projects; in fact, about 75% of this capacity consists of projects of more than 100 MWh. This also includes Fidra Energy’s well-known Thorpe Marsh Energy Park (1.4 GW/3.1 GWh), which recently started constructionjust nine months after its adoption.
Other developers are still going with the slightly smaller projects but with larger portfolios, with a number of developers having more than four sites under construction and one with nine sites breaking ground. The majority of these projects are co-located with solar.
With the aforementioned 77.9 GW/162.5 GWh awaiting construction, project owners will still have to choose a supplier, EPC, and make a final investment decision (FID). Many consented projects do not reach these stages.
If you would like to know more about the pipeline and where this data comes from, please contact [email protected].
