Penso Power granted planning permission for 250MWh Bramley battery storage development

UK battery storage developer Penso Power has won planning permission on appeal for a 100MW/250MWh battery storage project in Bramley, Hampshire. 

The project is part of a pipeline of large-scale battery storage projects in the UK funded by BW Energy Storage Systems (BW ESS) under an agreement with Penso Power signed in October 2021. The initial planning permission for the project was rejected in October 2021, but has now been granted after an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.  

The agreement between the two companies sees a potential pipeline of 3GWh of battery storage capacity with 350MW connection capacity. As part of the deal, BW ESS has also become a significant shareholder in Penso Power Ltd. 

“BW Group’s commitment is a coming of age for the UK battery storage market: a blue-chip international company deploying very significant amounts of capital to build a substantial portfolio of large-scale battery storage projects in the UK,” said Richard Thwaites, chief executive of Penso Power when the deal was announced in 2021. 

Commenting on the announcement, Thwaites said, “Bramley is an important project in our pipeline, and we expect it to play an important role in supporting UK energy security and ensuring the resilience of our electricity system. We are targeting 2024 for Bramley to enter commercial operation.” 

BW ESS managing director Erik Strømsø said, “We are very pleased to be moving forward with the Bramley deployment, which marks the start of a significant investment programme for BW ESS in grid-scale batteries in the UK.” 

Penso Power has previously developed a 100MW battery storage development which started trading in July 2021. That project, the Minety battery, was financed by China Huaneng Group and CNIC Corporation, with Shell Energy Europe signing an offtake agreement for the Wiltshire site in early 2020. Shell Energy Europe said it was the largest battery storage project in Europe at the time.