Global competition for battery storage
Britain is building batteries faster than any other part of its power system. Installed capacity has tripled in just three years. Batteries can now discharge more power than the entire nuclear fleet, a sign of how quickly the grid is changing. Since construction of Hinkley Point C began, Britain has installed nearly 7 GW of batteries. Hinkley Point’s 3.2 GW of reactors will not come online until at least 2030 (five years late), whereas new battery projects can be built in a matter of months.
Britain’s battery capacity has risen from 10 MW to nearly 7 GW, overtaking the headline capacity of the entire nuclear fleet in under a decade. The two technologies are not directly comparable, as batteries can only discharge for 1–4 hours before recharging, whereas nuclear reactors provide steady output around the clock.
Britain’s battery boom is impressive, but it must compete in a global race for investment. Storage is growing faster overseas as countries seek flexibility to absorb more wind and solar. Investors follow price signals, and battery revenues shift quickly with market regulations and price spreads. Battery revenues vary by one-quarter from year to year, so today’s hottest market can soon become crowded and less attractive.
Turkey shows how quickly the race can shift. It now has Europe’s largest pipeline of battery projects, beating Germany and Italy combined. This surge reflects a fast-growing power system turning to wind and solar to cut imports. Since 2022, new wind and solar projects have had to add battery capacity equal to their generation capacity.
Britain is taking the opposite approach: rather than mandating battery construction, the market decides how much to build. Tighter co-location or balancing requirements could make wind and solar more compatible with system operations, but could risk stalling investment. The Government is leaning towards market signals, with the Clean Flexibility Roadmap aiming to remove barriers and improve price signals for storage.
Energy storage helps Britain use more of the electricity it generates. Batteries respond to short-term swings in supply and demand within seconds, while pumped hydro provides large reservoirs to deliver electricity during longer periods of system stress. Together, they store surplus wind and solar to cut curtailment, and release it when demand peaks to smooth out prices.
To support the Clean Power targets, Britain must more than triple its current storage capacity by 2030. After building 5 GW of batteries in the last five years, Britain now has five years to build the next 20 GW. This will rely on investors remaining convinced this is Europe’s best place to build.