Exagen submits plans for £350m grid-scale battery

Submission of plans to Blaby District Council follows a period of public consultation and planning assessment. Further consultation with the local community is planned for the site, which Exagen said will serve as a blueprint for co-locating energy with community green spaces.

The £350m containerised battery site, which is said to be around ten times larger than most battery projects providing grid storage, will connect directly to the transmission network and will help to manage fluctuations in intermittent renewable energy.

“Nearby there are operational wind projects as well as approved solar farm and other solar farms in planning, all within a few kilometres,” said Andrew Mott, planning manager at Exagen. “Our project makes it easier for these kind of projects to connect to the grid.”

Battery management will be delivered through Exagen’s proprietary technology and AI platform. Once a site is complete, the company continuously monitors and controls the performance of its equipment and external conditions, using the output to apply machine learning across cloud platforms to optimise a site’s performance and provide a feedback loop into GIS (geographic information system) decision algorithms.

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Renewable energy provider Exagen said it is committed to a community-based approach and plans to use approximately 45 per cent of the site to improve biodiversity. The company will also establish a community fund to spend on improvements in the local area, such as sponsoring education courses.

In a statement, Mark Rowcroft, development director at Exagen said: “We’re committed to transforming energy for good, bringing batteries onto the grid to ensure we can store energy and keep the lights on when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.

“That’s why we’re excited to work with local communities and businesses to ensure the project is not only bringing clean, home-grown energy onto our grid, but that the site is also benefitting the local area. Over the next few months, we’ll be announcing a variety of opportunities for individuals and businesses to get involved.”

The project will be energised and connected to the grid in 2028 with much of the construction being carried out in 2027. Earthworks and landscaping will precede this phase to allow time for the planting to establish and begin to mature before the main development is constructed.

Once operating, the battery will be one of the largest in the UK and capable of powering 235,000 homes for two hours.