Charging Forward: Northern Ireland pumped hydro plans, Centrica’s Rough uncertainty and the latest battery storage updates

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Charging Forward: Northern Ireland pumped hydro plans, Centrica’s Rough uncertainty and the latest battery storage updates

In this week’s Charging Forward, Mutual Energy is progressing plans for a pumped storage hydro scheme in Northern Ireland, Chris Stark flags investment support for UK hydrogen storage and the latest battery storage updates. This week’s headlines: Northern Ireland pumped hydro storage plans Rough uncertainty as Stark backs hydrogen storage UK sees slowdown in BESS as Irish […]

In this week’s Charging Forward, Mutual Energy is progressing plans for a pumped storage hydro scheme in Northern Ireland, Chris Stark flags investment support for UK hydrogen storage and the latest battery storage updates.

This week’s headlines:

Northern Ireland pumped hydro storage plans
Rough uncertainty as Stark backs hydrogen storage
UK sees slowdown in BESS as Irish market grows
Innova approved for 1 GW Yorkshire BESS
Elgin buys Amberside Energy project pipeline
RES approval for 45 MW Scottish BESS
Ridge Clean Energy progresses Scottish wind and storage project
West Midlands battery hub secures £23m boost
International news: World’s largest grid battery catches fire in California and UAE launches massive baseload solar and storage project

Northern Ireland pumped hydro plans

Belfast-headquartered gas and transmission operator Mutual Energy is leading a feasibility study into a pumped storage hydropower scheme in Northern Ireland.

Located near Belfast Lough, the Higher Ground NI project would be the first pumped hydro scheme in Northern Ireland.

Costing an estimated £1 billion, the plan involves pumping seawater from Belfast Lough to a new reservoir near Carrickfergus using a 4km tunnel.

Mutual Energy chief executive Paddy Larkin told the Irish News the project could store close to 3 GWh of excess renewable energy capacity.

If it goes ahead, the project would be one of the largest energy infrastructure projects in Northern Ireland for more than 50 years.

Most pumped storage hydro project use freshwater reserves, with several schemes currently in development in Scotland close to Loch Ness.

However, according to Mutual Energy a freshwater scheme is unlikely to be feasible in Northern Ireland due to the remote location of suitable sites.

There are also challenges relating to poor grid infrastructure in the region, and using seawater will allow the firm to locate the project closer to Greater Belfast.

Japan developed the world’s first seawater pumped storage project in Okinawa in 1999, which was later dismantled.

Developers in Australia, Chile and the Philippines are also exploring marine pumped storage schemes.

Rough uncertainty as Stark backs hydrogen storage

Mission Control for Clean Power 2030 head Chris Stark has said hydrogen is “hard to beat” for low-carbon long duration energy storage (LDES).

However, he acknowledged UK developers currently lack financial incentives to develop major hydrogen storage projects.

Stark told a Westminster committee hearing the UK government will investigate potential market mechanisms to support the UK hydrogen storage sector.

The government would seek to bring this through “over the course of this parliament”, Stark added.

“It might be something that looks like a regulated asset base, or a contract for difference, but something that gives the long-term certainty to allow us to have that strategic store is going to be needed into the 2030s,” he said.

It comes after Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea raised concerns about UK gas storage levels earlier this month.

The intervention from the gas firm, which operates the Rough offshore storage site in the North Sea, attracted criticism from UK government ministers.

Centrica rough — Centrica’s repurposed Rough field, Britain’s largest gas storage facility.

During a debate in parliament, energy security minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath implied Centrica deliberately provoked “alarmist headlines” as part of an effort to secure government subsidies.

Centrica has not ruled out the closure of the Rough field, with O’Shea saying in December the company expects to make an operating loss of between £50m and £100m on the facility in 2025.

The company is exploring converting Rough for hydrogen storage, and Centrica has advocated for the government to extend the LDES cap and floor to include hydrogen to “encourage investment in storage”.

UK sees slowdown in BESS as Ireland grows

The UK energy storage market grew more slowly compared to Ireland in 2024, according to analysis by PV Tech.

In 2024, UK developers submitted planning applications for over 30 GWh of battery energy storage systems according to PV Tech research analyst Charlotte Gisbourne.

This represented a 40% drop in the UK market compared to 2023, despite a uptick in submissions in the fourth quarter last year.

Meanwhile, Irish developers submitted 7.4 GWh worth of BESS projects in 2024, an increase of 63% compared to 2023.

Gisbourne said there is still “strong potential for future growth” in both the UK and Ireland, with around 409 GWh and 16 GWh in each country’s development pipeline respectively.

With UK planning authorities approving multiple BESS projects over 1 GWh, Gisbourne said the UK is “cementing its place as a hub for renewable energy”.

“Grid reforms, in addition to the increased urgency of operational BESS, provide hope for the energy storage market to push through this current lull,” she said.

“The strong divergence in the regions shows the general evolution of the energy storage market, as the UK’s status as an early mover in energy storage does not necessarily guarantee sustained growth.

“Ireland still remains in its infancy with energy storage, as proven by the few operational sites, but the strong pipeline shows great promise for the future.”

Innova approved for 1 GW Yorkshire BESS

UK solar and battery storage developer Innova has secured planning consent for a 1025 MW BESS project in Yorkshire from Doncaster Council.

The two-hour capacity project also includes a 49.9 MW solar farm as part of the Almholme Energy Hub.

Innova said the project is the second largest battery storage project in the UK to gain planning consent to date.

The site will be able to store enough energy to power over 37,000 average homes for an entire week and will generate enough electricity to power over 15,000 homes every year.

Innova said the project will “help balance the grid, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and enhance national energy security”.

Innova senior project manager Rob Parish said: “This state-of-the-art facility will provide much-needed energy storage capacity, ensuring that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are effectively harnessed and distributed.

“As a result, it will play a significant role in helping the UK achieve its clean energy goals, accelerating the transition to renewable power and ensuring a more resilient, sustainable, and affordable energy system for generations to come.”

Elgin buys Amberside Energy project pipeline

UK solar and storage developer Elgin Energy has purchased a 1 GW project pipeline from asset manager Amberside Energy.

Under the deal, Elgin acquired 100% of the shares of Amberside Energy (Development) Ltd, which boasted a range of solar and storage projects.

Elgin chief executive Ronan Kilduff described the deal as a “great strategic acquisition to grown our pipeline across the UK”.

The firms said the acquisition has “significant synergies that should accelerate the delivery of new renewable energy assets.

RES approval for 45 MW Scottish BESS

Renewable energy developer RES Group has secured approval from the Highland Council for its 45 MW Contullich BESS project near Alness.

RES said the facility will play an important role in supporting the variable generation of renewable energy technologies.

The project design will also result in a biodiversity gain of 65.2% in habitat units and 100% in watercourse units, RES said.

RES development project manager Milo Amsbury-Savage said BESS projects will be a “vital part of delivering a reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity system for the future”.

“Alongside the project’s environmental and ecological benefits, RES firmly believes the local communities who host our projects should receive meaningful local benefits from them,” he said.

“During our pre-application consultation, we asked the local community for ideas for local benefits and priority projects that they would like to see supported or delivered in their community from the Contullich project, should it receive consent.

“We look forward to continuing these conversations in the coming months as we progress the project.”

Elsewhere, RES is also seeking community input on its 600 MW Steeples Renewables Project in Nottinghamshire.

Located near the former West Burton power station, the plans involve combined solar and battery storage at the site.

Overall, RES estimates it will invest £224m during construction and create 400 jobs over the 24-month build programme.

Ridge Clean Energy progresses Scottish wind and storage project

Ridge Clean Energy (RCE) has avoided the need for a public inquiry for its proposed Ladyfield renewable energy park in Scotland after council planners raised no objections.

The Argyll and Bute Council planning committee approved a recommendation to raise no objection after receiving letters of support for the scheme.

The project involves installing a 58.5 MW wind farm comprising thirteen turbines at Ladyfield plantation near Glen Aray on the Argyll Estate, alongside a 41.4 MW BESS.

Oxfordshire-based RCE has been engaging with the community in nearby Inveraray on the project since 2019, helping to reopen the Inveraray Pier in Loch Fyne and return it to community ownership after 10 years of closure.

An SSE Renewables wind farm in the Scottish Highlands.

As a result, RCE received the backing of Inveraray community council chair Linda Divers for the Ladyfield wind and storage hub.

“We are happy that Argyll and Bute Council voted not to object to RCE’s project as they have been a welcome addition to our community,” Divers said.

“RCE were a great help and support to us when raising funds for the purchase and restoration of our pier.”

If the Scottish government approves the project, RCE has also pledged to establish a community benefit fund to operate across its 40-year lifespan.

RCE chief executive officer Marjorie Glasgow said: “This decision is a key step toward further engagement in the region with renewable energy development making a positive difference for communities.”

West Midlands battery hub secures £23m boost

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will invest £23m into plans for a battery manufacturing and technology hub.

The Coventry and Warwick Gigapark is part of the region’s investment zone and includes plans for greenpower park, described as a ” UK centre of electrification and clean energy”.

The plan also includes the proposed £2.5bn West Midlands gigafactory, which has struggled to attract international investors, and sits near the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.

The £23m WMCA investment will go towards the installation of a dedicated energy supply capable of supporting large-scale battery production and other infrastructure works.

Design images of the proposed Greenpower Park battery hub in the West Midlands. Image: Greenpower Park

WMCA said the funding will “put the region into pole position to secure the major international investment to attract battery manufacturers” alongside other EV and energy storage supply chain firms.

Mayor Richard Parker said: “The gigapark is going to make the West Midlands a global hub for cutting-edge battery technology, paving the way for a new era of manufacturing in and around our region.

“This investment zone funding is an exciting first step in making that vision a reality. It will bring in private investment, create thousands of quality jobs, boost the local economy, and help build a greener, more sustainable future.”

UK minister for local growth and building safety Alex Norris said: “The West Midlands has a key role to play in our plans to turbocharge economic growth and this new gigapark will help us deliver on these ambitions and support our journey to becoming a clean energy superpower.

“This region was at the heart of the industrial revolution, and now, under the leadership of Mayor Richard Parker, it has a huge role to play as a green-industry leader, creating thousands of local jobs and delivering growth for generations to come.”

International news: World’s largest grid battery catches fire in California

A fire at a lithium battery storage facility in California has raised concerns about safety standards within the industry.

The incident has led to reports of elevated levels of heavy metals at a nearby nature reserve following the fire, which has reportedly destroyed around 80% of the battery capacity at the Moss Landing site.

Vistra Corp’s 3 GWh Moss Landing BESS is one of the largest grid-connected battery projects currently in operation and sits next to a natural gas power plant.

The site is also home to the separate 730 MWh Elkhorn Battery Facility, operated by the gas plant owner PG&E.

The fire has led to calls for additional safety regulations surrounding battery storage.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined.

UAE launches world’s first 24/7 solar storage project

The United Arab Emirates has launched the world’s first large-scale “round the clock” gigascale energy storage project, combining solar power and battery storage.

State-owned renewable energy developer Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) are developing the project, which will deliver up to 1 GWh of baseload power every day generated from renewable energy.

Located in Abu Dhabi, the project will feature a 5.2GW solar plant alongside a with a 19 GWh BESS.

UAE industry minister, Masdar chairman and ADNOC chief executive Dr Sultan Al Jaber said solving renewable energy intermittency has been the “moonshot challenge of our time“.

“With this ground breaking project we have found the solution,” Al Jaber said.

“For the first time ever, this will transform renewable energy into a world-leading 1GW of reliable baseload energy every day on an unprecedented scale – a first step that could become a giant leap for the world.”

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Nashua, NH – Data Center Frontier is excited to announce its Editorial Advisory Board for the second annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit (DCF Trends Summit), taking place August 26-28, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia. The 2025 DCF Trends Summit Editorial Advisory Board includes distinguished leaders from hyperscale and colocation operators, power and cooling solutions companies, IT and interconnection providers, and design/build/construction specialists. This year’s board has grown to include 15 esteemed executives, reflecting DCF’s commitment to providing comprehensive and diverse insights for the data center sector. This visionary group of leaders, representing the critical facets of the data center ecosystem, will guide the event’s content and programming to address the most pressing trends impacting the industry. The group’s unparalleled expertise ensures the Summit will deliver essential insights to help data center stakeholders make informed decisions in the industry’s rapidly evolving landscape. The Editorial Advisory Board for the 2025 DCF Trends Summit includes: Scott Bergs, CEO, Dark Fiber & Infrastructure (DF&I) Steven Carlini, VP, Innovation and Data Center Energy Management Business, Schneider Electric Dan Crosby, CEO, Legend Energy Advisors Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Programs, Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation Chris Downie, CEO, Flexential Sean Farney, VP of Data Centers, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Mark Freeman, VP of Marketing, Vantage Data Centers Steven Lim, SVP of Marketing & GTM Strategy, NTT Global Data Centers David McCall, VP of Innovation, QTS Data Centers Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer, Compass Datacenters Karen Petersburg, VP of Construction & Development, PowerHouse Data Centers Tara Risser, Chief Business Officer, Cologix Stefan Raab, Sr. Director, Business Development – AMER, Equinix Phill Lawson-Shanks, Chief Innovation Officer, Aligned Data Centers Brenda Van der Steen, VP of Global Growth Marketing, Digital Realty “The Editorial Advisory Board for the second annual Data Center Frontier Trends Summit is

Podcast: Data Center Trends Discussion with Industry Veteran Ron Vokoun of Everus Construction Group

For this episode of the Data Center Frontier Show Podcast, DCF Editor in Chief Matt Vincent and Senior Editor David Chernicoff sat down for a far-reaching discussion with data center industry luminary Ron Vokoun, a 35-year veteran of the construction industry with a primary focus on digital infrastructure. “I got into telecom back in ’92, which led to data centers,” Vokoun said. “Probably worked on my first one around ’96 or ’97, and I’ve been involved ever since.” Currently the Director of National Market Development for Everus Construction Group, Vokoun has been involved in AFCOM, both regionally and nationally, for nearly two decades and is an emeritus content advisory board member for Data Center World. He has also written extensively for Data Center Dynamics. He added, “I’ve just always been curious—very much a learner. Being a construction guy, I often write about things I probably have no business writing about, which is always the challenge, but I’m just curious—a lifelong learner. Interestingly, [DCF founder] Rich Miller … gave me my first blogging opportunity.” Here’s a timeline of the podcast’s highlights: Introductions – Ron Vokoun shares his extensive background. He has been in the construction industry for 35 years. 1:46– On his role at Everus Construction Group and the company’s diverse services across the nation. 2:07– Vokoun reflects on his long-standing relationship with Rich Miller. He acknowledges Rich’s influence on his blogging career. 3:05 Nuclear Energy – A discussion about nuclear energy trends occurs. The importance of nuclear energy in data center construction is probed. 3:35– Natural gas is highlighted as a key trend. Its role as a gateway to hydrogen is emphasized. 3:51– The impact of recent nuclear developments is analyzed. The reopening of Three Mile Island is noted as significant. 4:55 Future Power Sources for Data Centers – Discussion turns to the

Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs). In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle