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Government must “take the brakes off” the progress of energy storage by implementing the right policy framework without delay, according to MPs from across the political spectrum.

National Grid’s T-4 auction for the 2021/22 winter period has cleared at a record low price as battery storage projects seemingly struggled to compete.

Centrica has received planning permission for a brace of battery energy storage units at its UK headquarters in Windsor with a combined capacity of 1MW set to be built at the site.

The vast majority of battery projects set to compete in the upcoming Capacity Market (CM) auctions will face significantly decreased de-rating factors after it emerged that most projects are still set to use either 30 minute or one hour duration batteries.

VLC Energy has become the latest firm to finish its Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) battery projects following the completion of two projects totalling 50MW.

With the release of the most recent Capacity Market pre-qualification register, the UK’S utility-scale battery storage pipeline has now reached nearly 8GW. Solar Media market research analyst Lauren Cook takes a deep dive into the projects that made it through pre-qualification, and what these results mean for the projects likely to get built in 2018.

Distribution network operators (DNOs) should be able to own and operate a minimal amount of battery storage capacity in certain cases, and be able to compete in the ancillary services market to fund the projects, according to Northern Powergrid’s head of regulation and strategy.

Government policy and regulation offer the biggest barriers to the deployment of battery energy storage in the UK according to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Energy Storage, which claims 12GW of batteries could be deployed by 2021 under the right circumstances.

Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil’s Batwind project in Scotland, combining wind turbines with energy storage, will have a battery system installed by system integrator Younicos.

Centrica has revealed plans to build a single 100MW battery energy storage system in Ireland for delivery by 2022 to take advantage of capacity market and grid services opportunities currently under development.