More than 16.1GW of battery storage capacity is operating, under construction or being planned in the UK across 729 projects.

That compares to a total pipeline of 10.5GW across 600 energy storage projects in December 2019, according to RenewableUK.

The trade association’s new report finds the market has increased rapidly as 1.1GW of battery storage capacity is currently operational compared to 0.7GW identified in December 2019.

According to the research, a further 0.6GW is under construction, 8.3GW of capacity has secured consent and 1.6GW is in the planning system.

In addition, nearly 4.5GW are identified as being at an early stage of development for future submission into the planning system.

RenewableUK’s Director of Future Electricity Systems Barnaby Wharton said: “We’re already seeing grid-scale batteries of 50MW being built, providing valuable flexibility to the grid, and we expect many projects with an even larger capacity will be submitted into the planning system following the removal of the 50MW cap.

“There’s no doubt that the energy storage market will continue to grow as we scale up using a variety of innovative technologies – not just lithium batteries but also flywheels, compressed air, liquid air and gravity-based storage. This cutting-edge technology is another example of how the UK is a world leader in building modern power systems.

“However, many of our projects need access to capital at a lower cost and more stable revenues.”