EDF Renewables to start up 300 MW of UK battery storage over the next year

EDF Renewables is lining up over 300 MW of two-hour battery storage to start operations in the coming year, with six projects in construction, the company said Aug. 20.

The projects include a 57-MW battery in Braintree, Essex, and a 47.5-MW battery in Indian Queens, Cornwall.

The combined 313 MW of storage could power over 400,000 houses for two hours, EDF Renewables UK said in a statement.

"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," EDF Renewables UK head of solar Simone Sullivan said.

The projects add to the company's portfolio of over 150 MW of battery energy storage systems in operation in England.

"EDF Renewables UK plans to deliver up to 2 GW of transmission-connected battery storage, with more than 400 MW consented," the company said.

EDF energized its 52-MW Sundon battery project in Bedfordshire in July, and received planning approval for a 47.5-MW battery near Mannington in Dorset from the county council in the week ending Aug. 18.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed UK day-ahead peak power prices at GBP53/MWh ($69/MWh) on Aug. 19, compared with GBP52/MWh for day-ahead baseload.

Outlook improving

Revenue opportunities for the UK's booming battery storage sector are beginning to improve after a lean 2023.

The average dispatch volume for batteries in the balancing mechanism has increased by 251% since National Grid ESO introduced the Open Balancing Platform in December 2023, the system operator said earlier in August.

"The battery share of the total BM dispatch volume has increased from 1.5% in December 2023 to 5.9% in July 2024," a 40 GWh increase, it said.

Meanwhile the system operator has confirmed year-on-year improvements in derating factors for storage technologies in updated guidelines for next year's capacity auctions.

For two-hour duration batteries like those being built by EDF, the factors (which dictate how much of an asset's gross capacity can benefit from the payments) are now 27.15% (for the T-1 auction for 2025/26) and 20.94% (for the T-4 auction for 2028/29), up from 22.67% and 15.39% respectively for the prior auctions.

"These projects could play a role in the capacity market but we would like to see a review of the storage de-rating factors in the context of the current market and also revise assumptions on performance degradation over time," an EDF spokesperson told Commodity Insights. "This will ensure that the contributions to system security provided by storage are appropriately rewarded."

UK's far-reaching ambitions

The UK Labour government is targeting ambitious increases in renewable power generation, including a zero-carbon power grid by 2030, a tripling of solar capacity to 50 GW, quadrupling offshore wind to 55 GW and doubling onshore wind to 35 GW.

The UK granted planning consent on July 12 to three major new solar farms totaling 1.35 GW, in a move welcomed by the industry as a signal of the new government's intent to speed up the approval of clean energy infrastructure.

EDF Renewables said the UK would need 20-30 GW of battery storage by 2030 to meet 2050 net-zero emissions pathways.

Operational battery storage capacity in the UK has risen to 4.4 GW as of May, from 3.5 GW at the end of 2023, while the planned project pipeline reached 95.6 GW, according to trade body RenewableUK.

However, Labour's goal of a decarbonized power grid by 2030 is seen as highly unlikely. Natural gas accounted for over 31% of the UK electricity mix in 2023. Commodity Insights analysts only see this dipping to around 20% by 2030.