A number of the residents that attended the public consultation event on May 31st asked whether there were any operational battery energy storage facilities in the UK. As of June 2023, there are 161 operational BESS sites in the UK of varying sizes with a combined electricity storage capacity of 2.6GWh (enough to power around 5 million homes for an hour).
Alongside Australia and the US, the UK is one of the leaders in the adoption of battery storage to support renewable energy generation. As the technology develops the trend is towards larger capacity network connections that enable battery energy sites to better balance supply and demand across the electricity grid. We have provided a few examples below with imagery and links to further information about the projects.
Minety Battery Energy Storage
Penso Power • Wiltshire • Went Live: July 2021
Minety is a 150MW connection battery energy storage system.
Originally built with a 100MW connection in 2021, the facility has now been upgraded to a 150MW connection and has the capacity to store 266MWh of electricity. It is currently the largest operational battery energy storage facility in the UK.
The project uses both nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage system solutions.
The battery stores excess energy generated from renewable sources and feeds it back into the National Grid to balance supply and demand.
Oxford Energy Super Hub
EDF Renewables • Oxford • Went Live: July 2022
The Oxford Energy Super Hub is a 50MW hybrid battery storage system with the capacity to power 6,000 homes per day and provide ultrarapid charging for 42 electric vehicles at once.
The project uses Invinity Vanadium Flow Battery (VS3 Batteries) – a ‘hybrid’ lithium-ion/vanadium flow battery system.
At time of completion the Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) was the world’s largest combined lithium-vanadium battery energy storage
system (BESS).
Pillswood Battery Energy Storage
Harmony Energy • East Yorkshire • Went Live: March 2023
PIllswood is 98 MW connection battery energy storage project.
It employs a Tesla 2-hour Megapack system with lithium iron phosphate batteries and has the capacity to store up to 196 MWh of electricity per cycle.
The project helps maximise the use of renewable energy generated by wind farms and supports the balancing of supply and demand across the electricity grid.
Capenhurst Battery Energy Storage
Zenobe • Cheshire • Went Live: February 2023
Capenhurst is a 100MW connection battery energy storage system. It employs lithium-ion batteries and has the capacity to store 107 MWh of electricity.
Capenhurst delivers reactive power services to the grid and ensures power supply security for the Mersey region. It enables National Grid to maintain a stable voltage across the electricity network by either absorbing reactive power (to decrease voltage) or generating reactive power (to increase voltage). It is the first battery with a contract to do this anywhere in the world.
