Fidra secures consent for 3.1 GWh British battery

Doncaster Council has been busy this week issuing approvals to two biggest battery energy storage (BESS) sites in the UK, with a cumulative capacity of more than 5 GWh.
Image: Fidra

Edinburgh-headquartered Fidra Energy has secured planning consent to build and operate its flagship battery storage site at Thorpe Marsh, Yorkshire.

Once delivered, the 1.4 GW/3.1 GWh project will be the largest BESS facility in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe.

The project is being developed on approximately 55 acres of land that formed part of a former coal station site and adjacent to an existing National Grid substation in Yorkshire, in northern England. 

While the project was approved by Doncaster Council on January 28, 2025, the supply partner was made known in November 2024. Fidra inked a strategic partnership agreement with Chinese energy storage heavyweight Sungrow for the supply of 4.4 GWh of BESS.

A total of 880 units of Sungrow’s PowerTitan 2.0 liquid-cooled energy storage systems are expected to be deployed at Fridra’s two standalone BESS projects – Thorpe Marsh and West Burton C. Both projects are scheduled to break ground in 2025, as announced in November.

In its latest announcement, Fidra said that the final investment decision on the Thorpe Marsh project is expected in April 2025 with the first battery systems expected to be operational in early 2027.

“Thorpe Marsh is one of the most exciting infrastructure projects in the world and we are delighted to have achieved this important milestone in its development phase,” said Chris Elder, Fidra Energy’s CEO.

Fidra Energy is a relatively new player in the UK BESS market. It was launched in September 2024 by Washington-headquartered investment firm EIG Global Energy Partners with more than 3 GW of U.K. BESS projects in the pipeline.

Thrope Marsch is the second massive BESS project approved by Doncaster Council. Only a couple of days ago, it issued a planning consent to London-based renewables developer Innova for the nation’s second largest BESS project, the Almholme Energy Hub. The hub features a 1025 MW/2050 MWh battery energy storage facility collocated with a 49.9 MW solar farm. 

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  • Marija has years of experience in a news agency environment and writing for print and online publications. She took over as the editor of pv magazine Australia in 2018 and helped establish its online presence over a two-year period.

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