Britain’s under-pressure green power industry has received a surprise fillip after a renewables developer pledged to plough £10bn into what would become the largest portfolio of battery storage projects in the country.
NatPower, a UK startup that is part of a larger European energy group, is poised to submit planning applications for three “gigaparks”, with a further 10 to follow next year.
Battery storage projects are seen as a key part of the jigsaw to decarbonise Britain’s power grid, allowing electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels to be stored for use when weather conditions are still or not sunny.
The NatPower investment would lead to the construction of 60 gigawatt hours of battery storage, with solar and wind projects also in the pipeline.
The two gigaparks would be located in the north of England, with a further site in the west of the country planned later this year. The projects would be built on industrial land, and also through leasing deals with farmers.
The potential investment would mark a bright spot in a troubled landscape for the renewables industry. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 exacerbated a squeeze in gas markets and accelerated countries’ drives towards renewable power. However, the resulting surge in demand and global inflation has put pressure on supply chains and forced companies to rein in their ambitions.
In his budget speech on Wednesday, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced £120m to support the expansion of “low carbon manufacturing supply chains”. A record £1bn will be set aside for an upcoming auction to support offshore windfarm projects after an auction in September failed to attract any bidders.
Hunt also said £160m would be paid to Japan’s Hitachi for two sites earmarked for nuclear power stations – the Wylfa facility on the island of Anglesey or Ynys Môn in north Wales, and the Oldbury site on the banks of the river Severn in South Gloucestershire.
Efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid in Great Britain have also been undermined by waiting lists of up to 15 years for new projects, such as wind- and solar farms, to connect. Energy officials have embarked on a drive to kick out so-called zombie projects from a connections waiting list.
NatPower, which plans to finance, own and in some cases operate its projects, said it had also set aside £600m to invest in new substations.
Stefano Sommadossi, the chief executive of NatPower UK, said: “To solve the bottlenecks that are slowing the shift to clean energy, we will drive investment into the grid itself, collaborating with grid operators to deliver more than 20% of the new substations required.
“By investing in substations and focusing on energy storage first, we will enable the next phase of the energy transition and bring down the cost of energy for consumers.”
Battery storage projects could also help significantly reduce curtailment – a process in which wind and solar projects receive payments to stop generating power when supply exceeds demand. Without upgrades to the grid, these costs could reach £3.5bn a year by 2030, according to the thinktank Carbon Tracker.
Britain’s battery storage industry remains fragmented but includes projects of all sizes, including a £750m development at the Trafford low carbon energy park in Greater Manchester and a string of projects devised by the co-founder of the collapsed energy supplier Bulb.
NatPower UK, which launched in the UK in 2022, is part of a specialist Luxembourg-headquartered European energy group, which is backed by its management team and Tyrus Capital, a private equity firm. It scouts for land, obtains permits and typically sells projects on when they are ready to build.
The group is raising the money to carry out its UK ambitions through private companies and pension funds. An announcement on securing further investment is expected within weeks.
The government has set a target to generate power entirely from renewable sources by 2035, while Labour has pledged to achieve this by 2030.
Industry sources believe this is ambitious, amid concerns that Britain could struggle to meet the increase in demand for electricity for everything from electric vehicles to heat pumps while efforts to build new power projects falter.
