Masdar completes first project in £1b UK battery storage investment

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company - Masdar on Wednesday announced the start of commercial operations at its battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in Stockport, the first project to be completed under Masdar's £1 billion commitment to invest in UK battery energy storage.

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The company will also develop two new BESS projects in Cardiff and Chesterfield.

With a capacity of 20 megawatts (MW)/40 megawatt-hours (MWh), the Stockport facility, located in Welkin Road, can store enough clean electricity to power 20,000 homes for over two hours.

The Chesterfield and Cardiff projects, which will have a combined capacity of 150MW and 300MWh, will together store enough electricity to power more than 35,000 UK homes for an entire day. Construction began on the Stockport project in May 2024.

Following its acquisition of Arlington Energy in 2022, Masdar committed to investing £1 billion in a 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) pipeline of BESS projects in the UK, part of the company's wider commitment to the UK's energy transformation. The UK government is aiming to build up to 27GW of battery storage by the end of this decade under its Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.

Husain Al Meer, Masdar Director, Global Offshore Wind & UK, said, "Today's announcements demonstrate that we are accelerating progress towards delivering on our £1 billion pipeline. BESS is critical to helping the UK to transform its energy systems, unlock more renewables deployment, and bring tangible benefits to consumers, businesses, and local communities. Masdar is proud to be at the forefront of this sector in the UK and beyond."