UK grid-scale battery submissions rebounded above 1GWh in November. Here’s what that means for developers, investors, and the future of green technology.
Most companies watching the UK energy transition are staring at the same chart right now: grid-scale battery submissions dropped through the summer, then suddenly jumped back above 1GWh in November.
That rebound isn’t a random blip. It’s an early signal that the UK battery energy storage system (BESS) market is adapting to tougher grid rules, new economics, and a maturing planning landscape. For anyone building, funding, or relying on green technology, this matters directly to your next 3–5 years of decisions.
Here’s the thing about November 2025: pre-application submissions for UK grid-scale BESS reached 615MW / 1,230MWh, while full planning applications hit 870MW / 1,740MWh. It’s the first time since June that both stages have cleared the 1GWh mark.
In this post, I’ll unpack what that means, why it’s happening right after the UK’s grid connection queue reforms, and how developers and investors can respond strategically—especially if you’re betting on green technology, AI-optimised assets, and long-term clean energy infrastructure.
1. November’s BESS rebound: what actually happened?
The November numbers tell a clear story: UK grid-scale battery developers are back in build mode after months of hesitation.
- Pre-application submissions: 615MW / 1,230MWh
- Full planning submissions: 870MW / 1,740MWh
- Milestone: First time since June that both stages exceeded 1GWh in a single month.
Pre-application is the “early conversation” with local planning authorities; full planning is the detailed, expensive commitment. When both are high in the same month, it usually means two things:
- New projects are entering the pipeline.
- Existing projects are confident enough to move forward.
Developers aren’t just testing the water—they’re stepping back in.
This rebound lands just as the National Energy System Operator (NESO) reshapes the grid connection queue, removing over 150GW of stalled or speculative battery projects and confirming new connection offers out to 2035. That reform looked brutal at first glance, but it cleared a lot of dead wood.
The result: fewer zombie projects, more credible ones, and a clearer path for serious players.
2. Why UK BESS is still central to green technology
Battery storage isn’t a side quest in the green technology story; it’s core infrastructure.
The UK is now regularly seeing days when renewables supply the majority of electricity. That’s a win—but without storage, you end up curtailing wind and solar when the grid can’t take more. Batteries fix that by:
- Absorbing surplus clean power when it’s cheap and plentiful
- Releasing it when demand is high, cutting fossil generation
- Providing fast-response services like frequency regulation
- Supporting local networks where EV uptake and electrified heating are driving new peaks
Projects like the Carrington BESS at Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park in Greater Manchester illustrate the direction of travel. Construction there began in autumn 2025 with energisation forecast for late 2026, in a region that’s also hosting liquid air energy storage and broader low-carbon infrastructure.
This clustering isn’t accidental. We’re watching the emergence of multi-technology low-carbon hubs, where:
- Grid-scale BESS stabilises the local network
- AI-powered control platforms optimise charging and dispatch
- Co-located renewables and, increasingly, data centres share grid connections
The reality? BESS is becoming the backbone that lets every other green technology—EVs, heat pumps, green hydrogen, data centres powered by renewables—actually integrate into the energy system without breaking it.
3. Planning reality: from pre-app to consent
If you’re not close to UK planning, “615MW pre-app” and “870MW full planning” can sound abstract. In practice, those numbers represent dozens of negotiations, site designs, and risk decisions.
How the two stages differ
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Pre-application submissions
- Voluntary but increasingly standard for large BESS projects
- Used to identify major planning issues early (land use, visual impact, ecology, noise, fire safety)
- Lower cost, faster feedback loop
- A good pre-app can save 6–12 months of pain later
-
Full planning applications
- Formal, detailed submissions with full technical, environmental and design documentation
- Includes grid connection details, access routes, mitigation measures
- Requires serious sunk cost (consultants, studies, engineering)
- Signals that the developer is prepared to take the project to financial close
The fact that full applications outpaced pre-app capacity in November (870MW vs 615MW) is telling. It suggests:
- A backlog of projects that paused earlier in 2025 now feel confident to proceed
- Developers have adjusted designs and business cases to align with the new NESO queue and market signals
Most companies get this wrong: they focus solely on capacity headlines and ignore where in the process that capacity sits. From a risk and capital allocation perspective, 1GW at pre-app is not equal to 1GW in full planning.
If you’re an investor or lender, you should be weighting:
- Full planning submissions as near-term pipeline (2–3 year horizon)
- Pre-app volumes as mid-term opportunity (3–5+ year horizon)
4. NESO’s queue reforms: painful cleanup, healthier market
The big background story here is NESO’s grid connection reform. Over 153GW of battery projects were cut from the queue to make space for assets that are actually progressing.
It sounded harsh, but it addressed a real problem: the queue was clogged with early-stage or speculative projects blocking those ready to build. After the reform, NESO committed to offering grid connections for around 283GW of projects through 2035.
Here’s why that matters for the November rebound:
- Developers now have better visibility on connection dates and requirements
- Speculative actors who were “land banking” grid capacity are out of the way
- Serious players can align planning applications with realistic grid timelines
We’re seeing the early phase of a healthier pattern:
Fewer, better projects replacing a flood of speculative ones.
For green technology more broadly, that’s a feature, not a bug. A credible, financeable pipeline of BESS projects is far more useful to the energy transition than inflated gigawatt numbers that never materialise.
5. Where AI and software come in: smarter, not just bigger
The raw capacity numbers are grabbing headlines, but software and AI are where a lot of value is actually created.
Modern UK BESS projects are increasingly built around:
- AI-driven dispatch optimisation: learning price patterns, constraint risks, and grid behaviours to schedule charging/discharging
- Portfolio-level control: treating multiple batteries as a single flexible resource
- Local grid analytics: predicting congestion, constraint costs, and curtailment risks for co-located renewables
From a green technology perspective, this is where things get interesting:
- A 100MW BESS with basic controls might achieve decent returns.
- The same 100MW asset, optimised with AI on wholesale markets, balancing mechanisms, and ancillary services, can outperform by 20–40% revenue-wise in some scenarios.
I’ve found that the most successful developers now design from the software up:
- They model revenue stacks with realistic constraints
- They use AI tools to test different storage durations (2h vs 4h, for example)
- They feed planning and grid insights back into site selection
The November rebound isn’t just “more steel in the ground.” It’s more digital-first infrastructure designed to plug into a smarter, more flexible low-carbon energy system.
6. Practical implications: what developers and investors should do next
If you’re active in the UK energy or infrastructure space, November 2025 gives you some concrete signals.
For developers
-
Tighten your grid strategy
Post-reform, vague connection assumptions won’t fly.- Align pre-app timing with realistic grid connection windows
- Engage early with NESO and DNOs on capacity and reinforcement
- Model multiple connection scenarios in your business case
-
Use pre-app strategically, not as a box-tick
A detailed pre-app that genuinely surfaces local concerns (fire safety, visual impact, traffic, biodiversity) will:- Reduce planning objections
- Shorten determination times
- Improve financing conversations later
-
Design for flexibility and AI from day one
Don’t bolt on optimisation later.- Specify control systems capable of multi-market operation
- Choose storage duration with data, not guesswork
- Build cyber security and remote operations into the core design
For investors and lenders
-
Prioritise projects with real planning momentum
Full planning submissions in the current environment are a strong signal of capability and seriousness. -
Stress test against market volatility
Ancillary service markets will evolve; wholesale arbitrage alone may not cut it.- Test projects under multiple revenue and regulation scenarios
- Favour teams with in-house or proven route-to-market partners using advanced optimisation
-
Look beyond standalone assets
The most resilient investment cases increasingly involve:- Co-location with renewables
- Integration with data centres or industrial loads
- Participation in local flexibility markets and capacity mechanisms
The UK BESS market is shifting from “land rush” to infrastructure discipline. Those who adapt their filters and tools now will be in a much stronger position by 2027–2028.
7. What this means for the wider green technology transition
November’s battery rebound is more than a planning statistic. It’s a sign that, even under tougher regulation and tighter economics, energy storage has crossed the line into essential infrastructure.
For the broader green technology landscape, this means:
- AI-powered optimisation is no longer optional for serious BESS portfolios
- Grid-scale storage will increasingly anchor smart cities, EV rollout, and electrified industry
- The UK is likely to remain one of Europe’s most important testbeds for advanced storage business models
If your organisation is working on clean energy, smart grids, or sustainable digital infrastructure, the next step is straightforward: treat battery storage not as a bolt-on, but as a core design variable in your strategy.
The planning and submission data from November 2025 suggests that the market is already behaving that way. The question is whether your own plans are keeping pace.