The Blaby District Council has given the green light to renewable energy and storage developer Exagen to develop a 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Leicestershire.
Exagen plans to build the two-hour duration Normanton Energy Reserve BESS on land to the northeast of Earl Shilton.
Exagen submitted plans for the battery asset in January 2023, as reported by Solar Power Portal, and confirmed that the project would be capable of providing enough power for 80% of the homes in the county. £270 million in financing is set to be allocated to the project and will connect directly into a new substation owned by National Grid.
Although the energisation date has not been finalised, Exagen plans to commission the project in 2029, and operate the project for 40 years.
It is worth noting that the BESS will be one of the largest in capacity to gain planning permission in the UK. Carlton Power’s 1040MW/2080MWh Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park in Greater Manchester earned planning consent in July 2024, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) confirmed that it plans to build a 500MW/1,000MWh BESS in Scotland in December.
Although UK BESS projects appear to be growing in size, these are still eclipsed by some global schemes, as covered by our sister site Energy-Storage.news.
This should, however, not draw away from the importance of this scheme. As referenced by Jeremy Littman, CEO at Exagen Development, there “needs to be an increase in electricity storage capacity to balance renewable energy generation” in order for the UK to attain its 2050 net zero target.
“As more renewables are deployed, larger battery projects like Normanton will be required,” Littman added.
Intersect Power's 828 MWp/640 MWac Lumina Solar Project in Scurry County, Texas (Photo: Intersect Power).
Intersect Power has announced the commercial operation of its 828 MWp/640 MWac Lumina Solar project, located in Scurry County, Texas. Built with First Solar panels, the project created more than 900 jobs at peak construction, according to the company.
Intersect now has a fully operational base portfolio of 2.2 GW of solar PV and 1.4 GWh of co-located storage in Texas and California.
“Renewable energy is a critical piece of the overall American energy production story and Texas continues to lead the way in development and production,” said Sheldon Kimber, Intersect Power’s CEO. “We are proud to own and operate our now fully operational 2.2 gigawatt solar + 1.4 gigawatt hour storage portfolio in Texas and California, which has helped drive significant economic development and job creation while bringing energy security and independence to our country.”
Renewable energy credits generated by the Lumina project will be purchased by two Fortune 100 companies, Intersect Power said. Funding for the project’s construction and operations was secured as part of the broader portfolio financing announced in September 2022, when Intersect Power closed on portfolio-level term debt, tax equity, and construction financing commitments from leading financial institutions and investors. The company closed $2.4 billion of financing commitments and allocated $675 million of previously announced commitments to build and operate four solar energy projects totaling 1.5 GW PV + 1.0 GWh BESS.
Last June, Intersect Power secured an $800 million revolving credit line to support its development pipeline of renewable energy, energy storage, and green hydrogen projects, the company announced. The loan includes a Green Financing Framework that adheres to the 2023 LSTA Green Loan Principles and ICMA Green Bond Principles.
In November 2023, Intersect Power announced the commercial operation of its Oberon Solar + Storage project, located in Riverside County, California, with 679 MWp/500 MWac of solar energy and 250 MW/1 GWh of co-located storage. The project was built with First Solar modules from Ohio, NX Horizon smart solar trackers from Nextracker, and American-made structural steel.
