The British pipeline of energy storage projects has doubled within the past year.

That’s according to a new report by RenewableUK which estimates the capacity of energy storage projects which are operational, under construction, consented or being planned has doubled from 16.1GW a year ago to 32GW.

The trade association also suggests operational battery storage project capacity has grown by 45%, from 1.1GW to 1.6GW while the capacity of projects under construction has more than doubled to 1.4GW.

The authors of the report attribute this growth to the change in legislation in December 2020 which allows local planning authorities to determine projects with a capacity of more than 50MW in England and 350MW in Wales.

They also noted that nearly 20% of the total pipeline of battery storage projects, an estimated 6.1GW, are paired with solar energy projects.

RenewableUK’s Director of Future Electricity Systems Barnaby Wharton said: “The fact that the battery storage pipeline has doubled within the space of twelve months shows that the enormous appetite among investors for this technology is continuing to grow fast.

“But developers still need access to cheaper capital. Government can help by setting out a long-term vision for the sector, including a clearer and more stable route to market for energy storage.”

A few days ago, the government announced its Energy Security Strategy  – the new energy plan aims to expand Britain’s wind, solar and nuclear so that nearly all of the UK’s electricity comes from low carbon energy sources by the end of the decade.