The UK’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) pipeline received a boost this week when Masdar Arlington Energy confirmed it had begun construction of two projects totalling 55MW of capacity.
In the same week, Renewable Power Capital (RPC) unveiled it had acquired a 57MW construction-ready BESS project, bringing a combined 112MW uplift to the UK BESS pipeline.
The UK market is a leader in BESS deployments, with some 7.3GW/11.6GWh set to be online by the end of 2024, according to figures from Solar Media Market Research’s UK Battery Storage Project Database Report.
It was a big focus of last week’s Energy Storage Summit event in London, with topics ranging from falling revenues and co-location business models to the optimal size for larger-scale projects.
Masdar Arlington Energy begins building two UK BESS units
Developer-operator Masdar Arlington Energy has started construction on two BESS projects with a combined capacity of 55MW, one in Rochdale and one in Stockport.
The announcement follows Masdar’s announcement last year that it plans to invest £1 billion (US$1.26 billion) in the UK BESS market. The UAE state-owned renewable energy company acquired Arlington Energy in late 2022, which it renamed Masdar Arlington Energy.
The energy management system arm of utility Octopus Energy, Kraken Flex, will optimise Masdar Arlington Energy’s UK BESS pipeline, which it claims is 3GWh.
Masdar didn’t say when the two projects would come online or the MWh size of the projects, though most being built in the UK today are 2-hour systems.
Renewable Power Capital acquires construction-ready 57MW project
Renewable energy investor-operator Renewable Power Capital (RPC) has acquired its first ready-to-build (RTB) project in the UK. The project has a power rating of 57MW at the grid connection point, though, like Masdar, RPC didn’t reveal the MWh capacity.
It didn’t detail where the project is but said in its announcement (27 February) that construction would start imminently and that the project would come online in summer 2025.
It follows development partnerships that RPC has agreed with developers Greenfield (500MW) and Elmya Energy (4GW).
