Plans for 3.4 GWh of storage across Scottish, English batteries

The United Kingdom is set for another 3.4 GWh of BESS with the entry of Madrid-based Matrix Renewables into the Scottish market and planning decisions for two sites in the east and southeast of England.

Matrix, owned by Texan private equity group TPG, has announced a partnership with London-registered Green BESS Development UK Ltd. to develop batteries at Eccles and Kilmarnock, in Scotland, with a total scale of 1 GW/2 GWh.

Announcing its entry into the UK market, Matrix said both sites are “along major electricity transmission corridors between Scotland and England.”

With the US-owned developer stating it is negotiating with a UK-based engineering, construction, and procurement services company and is finalizing BESS technical configuration, electricity offtake strategy, and finance structure, the two sites are due online in 2027.

Matrix, which claims to have a 15.5 GW energy storage, solar, and green hydrogen project portfolio in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, said it intends to invest more than GBP 1 billion ($1.3 billion) into a further 2 GW of renewable energy generation and storage capacity in the United Kingdom over the next three years.

South of the border, London-based developer Clearstone Energy has received planning consent for a 300 MW/600 MWh BESS in Suffolk, eastern England, and a 400 MW/800 MWh site in Sussex, in the South East.

District councils for Mid Suffolk and Horsham have approved plans for the Bramford Storage and Great Oak Energy Hub sites, respectively.

The developer sold the 200 MW/800 MWh Hartmoor BESS, in Hartlepool in the northeast of England, to Field in November. Clearstone pledged to funnel the proceeds into its 2.2 GW United Kingdom portfolio of eight BESS sites, the first of which, a 400 MW/800 MWh project in Devon, in the southwest of England, obtained planning permission in April 2024.