By Jack Loughran Thu 7 Mar 2024
NatPower says it will build over £10bn worth of battery storage amounting to around 15-20% of the UK’s needs by 2040.
The UK-based firm, a division of NatPower Group, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, plans to start with three “GigaParks” to be licensed by 2024 and another 10 by 2025. It also said that £600m has been allocated to develop new substations in the electricity grid in preparation for the battery facilities.
It is expected that batteries will play an increasingly big role on the grid as they allow energy produced from renewables to be used at times when they are not generating electricity. They also help to avoid problems of excess electricity production – currently, wind or solar energy producers are sometimes forced to suspend energy production so that the grid is not overloaded.
NatPower proposes adding a capacity of over 60GWh to the grid, which would be linked to solar and wind projects the firm also wants to develop this year. The government’s target is to completely decarbonise the UK’s energy system by 2035.
In translated comments, Fabrizio Zago, NatPower Group CEO, said: “We are proud to announce NatPower’s investment plan in the United Kingdom which will give new impetus to the promotion of an energy system fully focused on renewables and will accelerate the country’s path towards achieving net greenhouse gas emissions equal to zero.
“Today we present the largest programme for the development of battery energy storage systems for over 60GWh in the UK, and we are ready to collaborate with institutions and players in the sector to make the energy production system increasingly efficient.”
The UK is one of the world’s most active markets for battery energy storage. In 2022, a record of 800MWh of new storage capacity was added, taking the operational energy storage capacity to between 2.4GWh and 2.6GWh, spread across more than 160 sites.
If approved and built, NatPower’s infrastructure plans would massively outweigh the capacity currently available.
Stefano DM Sommadossi, CEO of NatPower UK, said: “The United Kingdom has the opportunity to transform itself into a true ‘powerhouse’ for the energy transition, generating tens of thousands of highly qualified jobs and attracting to London a substantial part of the approximately five trillion dollars of investments needed every year to accelerate the energy transition by 2030.”
In yesterday’s Spring Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that up to £120m would be allocated to the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to build supply chains for new technology, ranging from offshore wind to carbon capture and storage.
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