The UK government will publish its flexibility road map later this year, setting a precedent for the rollout of long-duration energy storage (LDES).
Speaking at the Energy Storage Summit EU 2025 in February, deputy director for smart electricity systems for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Duncan Stone emphasised that storage is a priority for the government and it is “particularly active” on LDES.
The government’s clean power targets only aim for between 4GW-6GW LDES assets operational by 2030, in part because of long lead times on the technology. Many of the barriers to LDES deployment also apply to interconnectors, which is why the cap-and-floor support scheme for the former is closely based on one already existing for the latter.
Stone estimates that beyond 2030 deployment will really accelerate.
Since the event, the government has published a Technical Decision Document confirming the details of the LDES support scheme. It aims to support the deployment of between 2.7GW and 7.7GW of LDES capacity up to 2035, based on NESO’s Future Energy Scenarios (2024).
In his keynote address, which you can watch below, Stone explained how the role of storage in the government’s clean power plans will enable £10 billion in savings every year by 2050.
The keynote was covered in more detail on Energy Storage News, available to read here.
Other notable topics covered at the Energy Storage Summit in February included a panel that saw energy storage developers grill Ofgem’s head of connections policy, Alasdair MacMillan, about Gate 2 eligibility under grid connection reforms.
