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Charging Forward: UK battery storage projects reach startup, grid delays and more

In this week’s Charging Forward, Gore Street, Eku and BW ESS reach energisation at UK battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, amid warnings over an oversubscribed grid connection queue. This week’s headlines: Root-Power secures planning consent for 40 MW Rotherham BESS Sungrow and BW ESS Bramley Project begins operations Warnings over UK grid connection queue Invinity […]

In this week’s Charging Forward, Gore Street, Eku and BW ESS reach energisation at UK battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, amid warnings over an oversubscribed grid connection queue.

This week’s headlines:

  • Root-Power secures planning consent for 40 MW Rotherham BESS
  • Sungrow and BW ESS Bramley Project begins operations
  • Warnings over UK grid connection queue
  • Invinity and Frontier Power partner on UK long duration energy storage projects
  • Fire at Statera BESS site in Essex brought under control
  • Gore Street energises UK Enderby BESS project
  • Eku energises two UK BESS projects
  • International news: China and Saudi Arabia collaborate on 12.5 GWh of energy storage projects and Canadian firm Hydrostor secures $200 million for compressed air energy storage

Root-Power consent for 40 MW Rotherham BESS

UK energy storage developer Root-Power has secured planning consent for a 40 MW/80 MWh BESS project in Brinsworth, Rotherham.

Root-Power said the site will power 80,000 homes for a two-hour period once fully operational, and delivering a biodiversity net gain of 32.76%.

The Brinsworth BESS is the fourth planning approval for Root-Power in 2025, following consents at sites in Yorkshire, County Durham and the Scottish Highlands.

© Supplied by Root-Power
The site of Root-Power’s 40 MW/80 MWh Brinsworth BESS project in Rotherham.

Root-Power managing director Neil Brooks said the company “carefully selected a near perfect location” for the Brinsworth project.

“Managing competing constraints is always difficult when planning a project, so finding a suitable location only 1 mile from the point of connection in an urban area, without causing unacceptable noise or visual impact on sensitive receptors is a real achievement,” he said.

“We are happy to see that the planning committee unanimously supported our application, which is a real vote of confidence in our process and team.”

Sungrow and BW ESS Bramley BESS starts up

Swiss energy storage developer BW ESS and Chinese solar panel and storage manufacturer Sungrow have commenced operations at the 100 MW/331 MWh Bramley BESS project.

The BESS utilises Sungrow’s three-hour PowerTitan 2.0 battery, making it the first European project equipped with Sungrow’s liquid-cooled technology.

As a result, BW ESS said the Bramley BESS is “among the UK’s longest-duration and most versatile energy storage assets”.

BW ESS chief executive Erik Strømsø said the project coming online is a “landmark moment” for the company.

“Bramley is a state-of-the-art, pioneering project aligned with our mission to unlock the value of energy storage,” he said.

© Supplied by Sungrow
The inauguration of the BW ESS and Sungrow 100 MW/331 MWh Bramley BESS project.. Bramley.

Sungrow Europe president Shawn Shi said the company was proud to partner with BW ESS on the “groundbreaking project”.

“The Bramley BESS exemplifies our commitment to advancing clean energy solutions that not only support grid stability but also contribute to a more resilient and sustainable energy future,” he said.

“With the PowerTitan 2.0, we are setting new standards for efficiency, safety, and scalability, ensuring that we continue to meet the evolving energy needs of the UK and beyond.”

In 2024, BW ESS signed a seven-year tolling agreement with Shell Energy Europe Limited for the Bramley BESS.

The company said the agreement represents a market-first for a single battery energy storage asset in Europe, pioneering a new revenue model for BESS projects.

“Shell Energy Europe is delighted to collaborate on this project, which sets a benchmark for innovative revenue models in the UK and European battery storage markets,” said Rupen Tanna, Head of Power at Shell Energy Europe Limited.

Elsewhere, BW ESS and Sungrow are also collaborating on developing the Hams Hall BESS project in North Warwickshire.

Warnings over UK grid connection queue

The UK battery storage connection queue is now double the grid’s requirement for 2030, according to a Cornwall Insight report.

The analysis highlights the growing pressure on the UK government and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to provide clarity on which projects will move forward, and which will not.

According to the government’s Clean Power 2030 action plan, the required BESS capacity for 2030 will be 27 GW.

But Cornwall Insight said the connections queue for BESS out to 2030 is 61GW, more than double the respective target capacity range.

Meanwhile the queue out to 2035 is 129GW, more than quadruple what is sought by then.

Cornwall Insight analyst James Lomax said there are several challenges threating the government’s 2030 clean power goals, with the connection queue a “major hurdle”.

© Supplied by Statkraft
Battery units arrive at Statkraft’s Thornton Greener Grid Park in West Yorkshire.

“Ofgem’s minded-to decision on approving NESO’s connection reform plan gives clarity on the process that will be used to determine which projects move forward and which do not,” Lomax said.

“However, given the rapid expansion of battery energy storage over and above forecast connections capacity, and now the proposed decision on how to prioritise and streamline connections, it could well be that more than 100GW of BESS that wants to connect to the network will not get the option to until at least 2035 or even much later.

“If an asset can’t connect to the grid, it simply can’t contribute.”

Lomax said while NESO and Ofgem have set out some clarity on which projects will be protected and given a place in the connection queue, the challenge will now be building the infrastructure to allow them to connect.

“In order to meet the Clean Power 2030 capacity targets, we would need to connect assets to the network on average 2.5x quicker than we have over the past five years,” he added.

Responding to the report, Apatura chief executive officer Giles Hanglin said the UK “simply can’t afford to delay planned battery storage projects”.

“While the queue is oversubscribed, the key differentiator must be project readiness — priority should be given to those with exclusive land rights, advanced planning status, and consent,” he said.

“The focus must be on delivering projects that are sufficiently advanced, have been rigorously assessed through the planning process, and will make a real impact.”

Invinity and Frontier Power partner on long duration projects

Vanadium flow battery manufacturer Invinity Energy Systems (LON:IES) has formed a partnership with Frontier Power to develop long duration energy storage (LDES) projects under the proposed UK cap-and-floor mechanism.

Invinity manufactures LDES batteries at sites in Scotland and Canada, and Frontier Power has reserved up to 2 GWh of manufacturing capacity under the agreement on a right of first refusal basis.

Frontier Power chief executive Humza Malik said the alliance with Invinity marks a pivotal step in “revolutionising” the UK’s approach to LDES.

“Frontier Power’s track record in developing critical energy infrastructure, coupled with Invinity’s innovative battery technology, creates a formidable force in addressing the UK’s energy transition challenges,” Malik said.

© Image: Invinity Energy Systems
A render of Invinity Energy System’s ‘Endurium’ grid-scale vanadium-flow battery.

“This partnership goes beyond deploying batteries; it’s about building a sustainable, secure energy future for the UK while creating economic opportunities across the country.”

While initially focused on projects in the UK, Invinity said the partnership has “significant global potential” due to Frontier’s experience in Asian markets like Japan.

Invinity chief executive Jonathan Marren pointed to Frontier’s project finance expertise and its experience in developing interconnector projects which operate on the same cap-and-floor revenue model as the LDES scheme.

“Maximising the use of the UK’s own energy resources in the form of wind and solar power is essential to delivering enhanced energy security while also driving down costs for consumers,” Marren said.

“By deploying our Made in Britain batteries in partnership with Frontier Power and others across the UK energy industry, we are meeting this challenge head on.”

Invinity launched its next generation Endurium flow battery in December, which can be configured for discharge durations spanning between four and 18 hours.

Fire at Statera BESS site in Essex

Firefighters responded after a fire broke out at Statera Thurrock BESS project in Essex earlier this month.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said fire crews responded after receiving reports of the fire on Wednesday 19 February at a BESS project in East Tilbury, Essex.

The service said with close monitoring and a carefully controlled response, including specialist thermal imaging cameras and drones, the crew contained the fire and made sure there was no risk to the wider community.

On Thursday 20 February, the fire service issued an update saying they were able to scale back their response and hand the site back over to site management.

In a statement to Solar Power Portal, a Statera spokesperson said construction activities can resume while an investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

The spokesperson said the fire occurred in a single containerised battery unit, and the site was promptly evacuated with fire crews arriving on scene within 10 minutes.

“The strategic safety planning of the site, which was designed and built in full compliance with NFPA standards, including the provision of both fire hydrants and a water lagoon, as well as adequate spacing between BESS units and includes a pre-agreed emergency response plan with the local fire service, all contributed to a safe and efficient resolution of the incident,” the spokesperson said.

Gore Street energies UK Enderby BESS

UK energy storage fund Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LON:GSF) has energised its remaining in-construction BESS assets, including the 57 MW/57 MWh Enderby BESS in Leicestershire.

GSF said the successful energisation of all its remaining assets under construction marks a “pivotal milestone” for the company, with its energised portfolio reaching its target of 753.4 MW.

Eku energises two UK BESS projects

UK storage developer Eku Energy has energised two BESS projects totalling 68 MW.

The assets include the 40 MW/55 MWh Loudwater BESS in Buckinghamshire and the 28 Mw/56 MWh Basildon BESS in Essex.

Eku Energy chief executive Daniel Burrows said commissioning of the two projects is “coming soon”, and once operational the company will exceed 100 MW of operating capacity in the UK.

The two projects utilise NHOA Energy‘s battery storage systems.

Eku Energy is jointly owned by Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management and Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI).

China and Saudi Arabia collaborate on 12.5 GWh of energy storage projects

Chinese firm BYD Energy Storage has signed an agreement with Saudi Electricity Company to deliver grid-scale energy storage projects totalling 12.5 GWh.

Combined with a previous 2.6 GWh project, the two firms are now cooperating on a total of 15.1 GWh worth of projects.

BYD will provide its MC Cube-T ESS technology at five sites in Saudi Arabia, and the company said the “landmark project” will “redefine” energy storage in the global energy landscape.

Hydrostor secures $200m for compressed air energy storage

© Hydrostor
A render of Hydrostor’s 500MW/4 GWh Quinte Energy Storage Centre compressed air energy storage project in Canada. Image: Hydrostor

Canadian LDES developer Hydrostor has secured a $200m investment in its advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) projects.

The funding, from Canada Growth Fund (CGF), Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, consists of a $150m convertible note financing commitment from investors.

Meanwhile, CGF has also provided an additional $50m to fund part of the development costs for Hydrostor’s Canadian projects.

These include the Quinte Energy Storage Centre, a 500 MW/4 GWh A-CAES project in Ontario.

Hydrostor chief executive and co-founder Curtis VanWalleghem said the investment is “another vote of confidence” in the company’s technology and its “robust project pipeline”.

Hydrostor is also developing projects in New South Wales, Australia and California in the United States, which are set to begin construction later this year.

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The Q&A session came on the heels of layoffs across the company. Tan was hired in March, and almost immediately he began to promise to divest and reduce non-core assets. Gelsinger had also begun divesting the company of losers, but they were nibbles around the edge. Tan is promising to take an axe to the place. In addition to discontinuing products, the company has outsourced marketing and media relations — for the first time in more than 25 years of covering this company, I have no internal contacts at Intel. Many more workers are going to lose their jobs in coming weeks. So far about 500 have been cut in Oregon and California but many more is expected — as much as 20% of the overall company staff may go, and Intel has over 100,000 employees, according to published reports. Tan believes the company is bloated and too bogged down with layers of management to be reactive and responsive in the same way that AMD and Nvidia are. “The whole process of that (deciding) is so slow and eventually nobody makes a decision,” he is quoted as saying. Something he has decided on is AI, and he seems to have decided to give up. “On training, I think it is too late for us,” Tan said, adding that Nvidia’s position in that market is simply “too strong.” So there goes what sales Gaudi3 could muster. Instead, Tan said Intel will focus on “edge” artificial intelligence, where AI capabilities Are brought to PCs and other remote devices rather than big AI processors in data centers like Nvidia and AMD are doing. “That’s an area that I think is emerging, coming up very big and we want to make sure that we capture,” Tan said.

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

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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

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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

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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

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