UK renewable energy developer Exagen has been awarded planning permission for a co-located solar energy and battery energy storage system (BESS) project in the West Midlands.
Following a successful appeal process, the Planning Inspectorate has granted Exagen full planning permission for the Holly Lane Energy Park, marking the company’s first planning approval of this year.
The development, located near Solihull, West Midlands, will consist of a 34MWp solar PV power plant, with a 75MW BESS located on a separate parcel of land divided by a public highway. A new substation will be built and located adjacent to the BESS, which will connect into the nearby 132kV overhead line. The solar portion of the project will connect to the new substation via a buried cable which follows the public highway between the two plots of land.
While a construction start date has not yet been announced, the project has already had an accelerated grid connection date approved and will connect to the grid in 2027.
In January 2024, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council made a commitment to have 430MW of renewable energy generation in the council’s area by 2041, of which 10.6MW is currently installed. According to Exagen, the Holly Lane solar PV power plant will contribute 6% of the capacity needed to help the council meet its target.
Planning applications were originally submitted to both Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwick Council in September 2023. However, these were denied permission by both councils in February and April, respectively, with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council stating that it believed the development would represent harm to the green belt that was not justified by the energy generation capacity it would create. However, following the submission of an appeal with minor amendments to the design in July 2024, and an appeal hearing in January 2025, both councils have now reversed their decisions.
Andrew Mott, head of planning and environment at Exagensaid: “For the UK to achieve its 2050 net zero target at the lowest possible cost, there needs to be an increase in deployment of renewable energy generation alongside energy storage; to meet targets around three projects of this size need to be approved and constructed every week.
“We are now working to prepare for construction and make the most of an accelerated grid connection date. We welcome both the thoroughness with which the planning inspectorate considered the appeal, and the timeliness of their decision, coming just two weeks after the hearing was held.”
An exciting time for Exagen
Exagen has been through some significant changes in recent months, arguably the most significant of which came in September of last year.
Last autumn, the company announced that it had was subject to a full buyout from the generation arm of the UK’s largest energy supplier, Octopus Energy Generation. Under the 100% equity buyout, Octopus Energy Generation now has full ownership of Exagen’s development pipeline, which totals over 2.4GW of solar and BESS projects across England and adds to Octopus Energy Generation’s gargantuan 3.7GW portfolio, worth around £6.7 billion.
This approval of planning permission is not only Exagen’s first of 2025 but also the first since the Octopus buyout late last year.
