Carlton Power gains planning consent for 2GWh Manchester BESS
Get ready to witness a revolution in energy storage! Carlton Power has obtained planning consent for a 2,080MWh battery energy storage scheme (BESS) at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park in Greater Manchester, UK. The project, with a capacity of up to 1GW, requires £750 million in capital.
Carlton Power is currently in advanced talks with companies to finance, build, and operate the BESS. Construction is expected to begin in early 2024, with commercial operations starting in Q4 2025.
250MWh capacity
Highview Power Storage Inc. has some exciting plans in store! They are set to construct and manage the very first commercial liquid air storage system worldwide. This groundbreaking project, worth a staggering £250 million, will boast an impressive 250MWh capacity for long-duration, cryogenic energy storage.
Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park
👆 Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park from Mike Donaghy on Vimeo.
The storage system will be situated at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park, which holds historical significance as the former site of the Carrington coal-fired power station. This location also happens to be conveniently close to the Manchester Ship Canal and the state-of-the-art Carrington flexible gas-fired power station. This came into servive in 2016 and cost £750 million to build.
The approval of the BESS brings the total investment value of the site to £2 billion. The Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park aims to accelerate the North West’s path to net zero, including the separate 200MW Trafford Green Hydrogen scheme.
Councillor Tom Ross praised Carlton Power’s vision in developing the park. While the project would be the largest in the UK, it falls behind some global schemes.
Meanwhile in the Philippines
In June 2022, billionaire Enrique K Razon proposed a solar-plus-storage project in the Philippines with a 4,000-4,500MWh battery storage capacity, overseen by Prime Infrastructure Holdings.
Chris McKerrow, Head of Carlton Power’s European BESS Development said:
Our BESS scheme will make a significant contribution to the resilience of the North West’s energy system and, combined with our green hydrogen scheme and the cryobattery project, underlines Trafford Park’s importance to the energy transition in the region and the journey towards Net Zero.
Trafford Council and other local organisations, like the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, recognize the importance of the BESS and the green hydrogen scheme to the energy transition, to inward investment and to the regeneration of land, much of it vacant for over 20 years. We are delighted to have secured planning consent for the world’s largest BESS and our focus now turns towards financing and building the scheme.
Further reading
https://www.jpsil.co.uk/blog/pillswood-bess/
https://www.jpsil.co.uk/blog/lithium-ion-battery-storage/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_storage_power_station
https://www.jpsil.co.uk/content/power-rental-container