UK’s Gresham House secures consent for 456 MW BESS in Scotland

Gresham House has been granted development consent for a 456 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Gretna, Scotland. ESS News understands the project will have a two-hour initial design – although there is scope for significant expansion.

The asset management business is understood to have secured a very large site for its Gretna Green battery storage project; one which could comfortably accommodate a longer duration eight- to 10-hour storage project should this make commercial sense. For a 456 MW battery, this would be equivalent to 3.6 GWh to 4.6 GWh in capacity terms. A spokesperson for Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) declined to comment.

The Gretna Green BESS project is not currently part of GRID’s development pipeline but is instead part of Gresham House’s wider asset management business. Historically, projects initiated by the wider asset management business have typically been transferred to the energy storage fund to be developed.

GRID currently has an operational BESS portfolio of 945 MW/ 1,307 MWh all of which is sited in Great Britain. This is set to rise later in March 2025 when the under construction 87 MW Bradford West BESS is scheduled to come online, taking the portfolio to 1,072 MW. GRID also owns a 100 MW project in Walpole, Cambridgeshire, scheduled for completion in 2026. ESS News understands there is a further 727 MW of projects within GRID’s pipeline but not owned by the fund – this does not include the 456 MW Gretna project.

The Gretna Green BESS is the latest in a flurry of battery storage approvals issued by the Scottish government’s Energy Consent Unit in 2025. In Scotland, BESS projects with power output greater than 50 MW are subject to approval from the unit rather than local planning authorities. Since the New Year, the Energy Consent Unit has approved four standalone BESS projects including Gretna Green BESS, as well as a hybrid wind, solar and storage project in East Ayrshire. In November 2024, the Energy Consent Unit approved the largest Scottish BESS project to date – a 900 MW/1.8 GWh development in Perth and Kinross.