Ellie Wilkes, intern at Regen, questions the reasons behind some of the barriers to the completion of storage projects in the run up to the launch of the ESN’s new storage paper
Electricity storage has long been recognised as an essential element for our decarbonisation efforts. Through the government, the regulator and the system operator we are seeing changes to try and reduce the barriers and develop new revenue streams for storage operators and developers.
This is evident by the high ambition of the sector. Hundreds of projects having been submitted into the planning scheme, however analysis of the Renewable Energy Planning Database, shows that out of 311 battery storage projects registered only 4% were noted as operational. On the other hand only 3% of these projects had been refused. Meaning a lot of interest lies on the 56% of project that have received planning permission and are still awaiting construction, and what can be done to move them past the final hurdle.
Is this due to connection agreements or changing revenue streams? What can be done to improve things? This has been the focus of the Electricity Storage Network as well as to create an environment that can successfully bring new projects into this pipeline. With our new paper, Electricity Storage: Pathways to a Net Zero Future, which is being launched on the 3 June, we will be looking at some of the barriers the industry is currently facing and making recommendations on how the landscape for storage can be improved.
If you’d like to hear more about the storage industry or join the discussion, we will be holding a free online launch event which you can join by registering here. This will include an introduction to the paper by the author, Madeleine Greenhalgh as well as a panel of industry experts from organisations including BEIS, Fluence, Open Energi and KMPG discussing the future of the sector.