Proactive Investors - British Gas owner Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) will build a new battery storage plant in Scotland capable of holding enough energy for over a hundred thousand homes.
Located near North Sea offshore grid connections, the 65MW Perthshire-based plant will be capable of storing enough electricity to power 130,000 homes for an hour.
Centrica confirmed planning permission had been granted on Thursday, with the battery storage site set to come online by 2028 as the company’s biggest yet.
“If the country wants to achieve a reliable, secure and decarbonised power system, then battery storage sites must be the rule rather than the exception,” Centrica director Gregory McKenna said.
Britain plans to have installed 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, as part of a longer-term bid to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
However, the rollout of renewables will require more storage systems, analysts have warned, since wind and solar, naturally, rely on not-always-guaranteed gusts and sunshine.
“Storing energy at times of surplus to keep the lights on during times of peak demand will be key to delivering on […] ambitious targets,” McKenna added, reducing the need for more consistent, but polluting fossil-fuelled power plants.