The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has released a consultation asking stakeholders for their views on the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) threshold. In particular, whether to remove the 50 MW NSIP threshold to standalone storage schemes and amend the Planning Act 2008 so that a new capacity threshold for schemes that include co-located storage, regardless of size, is established.
These changes would enable storage projects, regardless of capacity to be put to local authorities for approval without needing to go through the NSIP process. Furthermore, network users could be encouraged to investigate co-location with energy storage, as the proposal indicates that the site would only fall under the NSIP regime if either the capacity of storage within a co-located scheme or the generating capacity excluding any storage is more than 50 MW.
This would remove some barriers to market entry for large storage projects as the proposals will simplify the planning process and remove the ambiguity and additional costs incurred due to the limits and NSIP process. The approach is a pragmatic one. The current 50MW threshold was set out within the Energy Act prior to the advent of commercially viable large-scale storage and sought to ensure an appropriate and robust level of assessment commensurate with the likely impacts of 50MW+ generation schemes. However the likely environmental impacts and land-use planning considerations that apply to say a 50MW CCGT plant or onshore wind farm are far greater than those that would be likely to apply to 50MW of batteries or as a result of adding batteries to another form of generation so that the overall capacity crossed the threshold.
This consultation is open until March 25th and applies to England only.
Our experts offer support for a range of projects, including large-scale storage providing grid ancillary services, storage co-located with renewables, and early-stage advice for developers seeking to understand the storage market. We combine power systems design and engineering, commercial, regulatory, consenting and environmental expertise.
Our comprehensive energy storage services include:
- Site finding;
- Grid connection support;
- Advice on revenue streams and market and regulatory developments;
- Bespoke training on energy storage; Independent analysis of the business case for an energy storage system;
- Review and advice on technical and functional specifications;
- Relationship building with relevant stakeholders;
- Advice on electrical, mechanical and civil design of storage projects;
- Grid compliance studies.
- Environmental Noise Assessments for feasibility, planning and compliance
Please get in touch to find out more.
