The UK battery energy storage sector has moved decisively from emerging technology to mainstream infrastructure in the past two years. Planning approvals for BESS projects in Great Britain reached 28.6GW in the first three quarters of 2025 alone, up 92% on the whole of 2024. The pipeline is substantial, the revenue environment is stabilising, and several projects at a scale that would have been unthinkable five years ago are now either under construction or in advanced development.
Scale of ambition
The clearest illustration of how far the sector has come is Thorpe Marsh in Doncaster, a former coal power station site now being redeveloped by Fidra Energy as a 1,400MW, 3,100MWh BESS facility. With close to £1 billion in international investment secured, it is expected to become the largest battery storage facility in Europe when it completes in 2027. Closer to the north east, NatPower UK has announced plans for the Teesside GigaPark at the Wilton International site in Redcar, which would be one of the largest and longest-duration BESS developments in the UK.
These projects represent the upper end of the market, but the broader pipeline is also busy. Planning consent has become increasingly important as a prerequisite for securing grid connections following the Connections Reform process, which has driven a surge in applications across all scales.
Revenue stacking and market maturity
The core commercial model for grid-scale BESS in the UK is revenue stacking: layering income from frequency response services, Capacity Market contracts, Balancing Mechanism trading, and where available, wholesale energy arbitrage. Aurora Energy Research data published earlier in 2026 showed that GB BESS assets doubled revenues in March 2026 compared to prior periods, reflecting both improved market conditions and better optimisation across the fleet.
That said, the Stability Market Round 2 outcome in early 2026 was a notable setback for the sector. NESO awarded no contracts to grid-forming BESS projects in that tender, with synchronous condensers and gas assets winning the available contracts instead. The result raised questions about whether the market framework is yet properly calibrated to value the grid stability services that battery storage can provide, despite the technology having been proven through the Stability Pathfinder programme.
Planning and fire safety
Planning remains a constraint on deployment, particularly at community and local authority level. Concerns about fire risk, visual impact and landscape change continue to generate opposition to individual projects. The industry is responding: major suppliers are voluntarily adopting more stringent fire safety protocols, and proposed 2026 updates to NFPA 855 include large-scale fire testing of complete BESS units. Standardised testing reduces the reliance on conservative setback distances and density restrictions that have historically limited project viability.
CPP provides development management, grid connection management and technoeconomic feasibility services for BESS projects at all stages. If you are developing a battery storage project and would like to discuss grid connection or feasibility, contact us at info@cpp.consulting.