EDF to connect 300 MW of UK battery storage within 12 months

EDF has announced it has 300 MW of UK-based battery storage it expects to bring into operation by August 2025.

The EDF Renewables UK unit of the French power company said it has six projects under construction and revealed details of four English projects including a 57 MW battery in Braintree, Essex and the 47.5 MW Indian Queens site, in Cornwall.

Announcing the 300 MW short-term development pipeline on its website, EDF said it had energized a 52 MW battery in Sundon, Bedfordshire, in mid-July 2024, and added the 47.5 MW site it is installing in Mannington, Dorset received planning permission in mid-August 2024.

With the utility already boasting 150 MW of operating battery energy storage systems in the English counties of Oxfordshire, Kent, and the West Midlands, the company said it has total plans for up to 2 GW of grid connected battery capacity, with 400 MW having received planning consent, of which 313 MW are under construction.

The Labour government elected in July 2024 moved quickly to state its determination to install the grid-scale storage capacity needed to hit a raised national ambition of having a net-zero electricity system by 2030. It has been estimated that the nation will require 20 GW to 30 GW of battery storage capacity by that date.

Simone Sullivan, head of solar, storage, and private wire at EDF Renewables UK said, “Our upcoming project pipeline will strengthen the UK’s capacity to integrate more renewables and will allow the grid to be more flexible and resilient by managing electricity supply and demand. Battery storage is critical to enhancing our energy security and to achieving the new government’s 2030 targets. We have a strong momentum behind our projects, helping the UK to reap the benefits of cost-effective, clean renewable energy and a modern, flexible grid.”