Government to remove planning threshold for electricity storage

The government is planning to remove the requirement for electricity storage projects in England with a capacity of at least 50MW to secure planning permission from the secretary of state for energy.

Non-wind generation projects above the threshold are currently considered to be nationally significant and must therefore obtain a development consent order from the minister.

As part of a consultation on the planning arrangements for energy storage, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) proposed in January to retain the threshold for standalone projects, whilst allowing composite projects avoid the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime so long as no single part has a capacity of 50MW or greater.

However, the department has now altered its course after respondents to the consultation cited the threshold as a “significant barrier” to the deployment of larger projects. In a follow-up consultation setting out its new position, BEIS said they had provided evidence of “clustering” just below, including multiple instances in which projects had been deliberately capped at 49.9MW or split apart.

It has therefore proposed to “carve out” electricity storage from the NSIP regime and allow developers to instead secure consent from the local planning authority, or through a permitted development right where applicable, regardless of size.

The secretary of state would still be able to direct projects into the NSIP regime if they consider it appropriate. The current threshold would also be maintained for pumped hydro storage projects.

BEIS originally intended the proposals to only apply in England, and not in Wales, where the threshold for inclusion in the NSIP regime has already been raised to 350MW. It now plans to implement them in Wales as well.

The deadline for responses to the latest consultation is 10 December 2019.