Solar & Storage Live returned to the United Kingdom in September and there was some optimism at the show for an industry with plenty of untapped potential. The 2024 edition of the show was held last week at the NEC Birmingham, England.
There were positive noises on the exhibition floor concerning utility-scale solar and storage deployment in Great Britain, provided the government turns words into action on planning reform. Market signals for the solar industry have been strong since the 2024 general election and the UK government has signed off on four solar projects that fall into the nationally significant infrastructure (NSIP) planning category since July.
Improving the planning process will be key to accelerating deployment and improving grid infrastructure years ahead.
Solar
There is hope that policy changes could make life easier for large-scale solar project developers. The UK government has been consulting on raising the NSIP threshold for solar projects to 150 MW. At present, solar projects in England with capacity exceeding 50 MW require consent from the UK government, a more complex and expensive process than working with local government authorities and one that has resulted in a planning ‘deadzone’ for solar projects.
One project consultant at Solar & Storage Live with experience securing consent for NSIP solar projects told pv magazine that increasing the capacity threshold could result in more developers pursuing projects in the deadzone. She noted that developers prefer the local authority process, although this isn’t without its problems. Depending on the region, enthusiasm for solar and storage can vary significantly with some local politicians prepared to object to projects from the outset.
Political opposition isn’t the only thing than can slow planning consent for UK projects. Local governments across the United Kingdom are hamstrung by a lack of financial resources, a legacy problem dating back more than a decade. In her keynote address, UK parliamentarian Wera Hobhouse MP described local authority planning departments as a “shadow of their former self” due to financial pressure on councils. Responding to the Liberal Democrat MP, Chris Hewett, chief executive of Solar Energy UK said that improving the UK planning system is one of the trade association’s “big asks” of the new government.
At the residential scale, installations remain relatively healthy in the United Kingdom. Competition is heating up, however, according to local independent installers and multinationals at the fair who said the market is now primarily driven by price. One independent installer told pv magazine that retail energy companies entering the solar installation market were pushing prices down.
Despite the UK commercial and industrial (C&I) segment’s relative immaturity compared to other segments, there were plenty of solutions on the exhibition floor aimed at C&I and plenty of talk on the conference stages. SolarEdge brought its CSS range of inverter and storage cabinets to the United Kingdom for the first time, while inverter and storage manufacturer Sungrow was keen to highlight its power optimizer for C&I installations as a new addition to its range in the United Kingdom.
Storage
On the storage front, the integration of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) with Great Britain’s energy grid has been a success story in recent years. Despite a sluggish start in 2024, significant additional capacity is expected toward the end of the year. Wendel Hortop, market lead at Modo Energy, told exhibition attendees that while the battery analytics platform has recorded a decline in capacity additions in 2024 to date, when compared to 2023, there are multiple BESS projects of more than 100 MW capacity that could come online before the end of the year. Hortop also highlighted the issue of skipping – when the electricity system operator (ESO) operator chooses non-battery assets to generate electricity instead of more economical bids from batteries – but noted that some progress has been made in 2024. Measures taken by the ESO include adopting a bulk dispatch approach that allows the system control room to aggregate battery assets for deployment.
Commercial and industrial (C&I) storage also turned heads on the exhibition floor. Chinese storage giant CATL chose Solar & Storage Live UK as the show to unveil its new offer to the C&I market, TENER Flex. Speaking at the launch event, CATL European President Amanda Xu described the UK storage market as “the very frontier” of the industry.
CATL wasn't the only storage business with a big announcement at Solar & Storage Live UK. US-based ESS Inc was present at the fair when it was announced a new assembly plant for its iron flow long-duration storage batteries had secured funding from the Queensland government to support the company's Australian expansion. ESS Inc senior vice president Hugh McDermott told pv magazine the business also has manufacturing ambitions in Europe and would expect to open a facility “somewhere in the region” in the next few years.
Domestic brands also see opportunities in C&I storage. Jason Howlett, CEO of British-owned battery and inverter brand GivEnergy told pv magazine the business is well positioned in part due to its domestic software business. GivEnergy is a privately owned UK enterprise manufacturing residential and C&I BESS products in China, while developing all of its software in Great Britain. This could be crucial to securing C&I growth, according to Howlett, who said he has been talking with senior government figures on the cybersecurity implications for critical infrastructure such as hospitals when using BESS software developed in other markets.
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