Leasing your land for energy storage: what you need to know

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are intermittent. The sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. That’s why energy storage is so critical: it enables us to manage these fluctuations in supply and demand and ensures the lights stay on when we need them. It’s particularly important during the current global energy crisis – nobody wants to lose electrons when energy supply is so tight.  

Equally, sometimes more green energy is generated than can be used. If we want a sustainable and affordable energy system, we need to be able to store and use green energy later, so it’s not wasted.

Energy storage: shaping the transition to net zero

As the UK continues to increase its reliance on renewable energy, energy storage assets will play a key role in balancing supply and demand. But we need more of them. The National Grid ESO estimates that the UK will need up to 35 GW of electricity storage by 2050.

That’s why as part of our plans to invest in deploying 300MW of assets to support the energy transition, including solar farms, we’ve announced plans to invest in energy storage assets over the next five years., We’ll be able to connect some of the country’s biggest businesses to zero-carbon solar energy; while using battery storage to help the grid manage the challenges of moving towards intermittent renewable energy generation.

We’re looking for places to build these new energy storage assets. If you’re a landowner, we’d love to talk to you about leasing your land to us. You would help to shape the UK’s transition to net zero – while benefiting from long-term, stable income for your land.

What’s involved in leasing your land for energy storage?

Energy storage assets can be built on just 2-3 acres of land, so they’re ideal for landowners who aren’t interested in releasing as much land as is required for a solar farm.

In terms of the quality of the land, they should not be built somewhere that’s very productive for arable farming. They should be built on land that’s grade 3 or poorer - in fact, they’re an ideal choice for former industrial sites, or any other areas where there is already hardstanding.

In terms of location, it would be great if the land was near to a substation, but that’s not essential. The most important thing is that the land is near a grid connection with a minimum of 33kV grid connection. There also needs to be spare capacity on that part of the grid. Don’t worry if you’re not sure about the situation with your local grid connection though – we’ll do all the checks to find out if it’s suitable.

Taking a responsible approach

One of the biggest concerns that landowners have around energy storage assets is whether there will be a disruption to the local community. It’s true that they lend themselves to being located away from residential areas. But regardless of location, we work hard to reduce their impact.

Air conditioning units are used to prevent batteries from overheating, and these can create some background noise. However, there are local noise regulations that all energy storage assets must adhere to, and we ensure all our sites are fully compliant with these measures. That might mean installing acoustic fencing, shielding, or another method of noise reduction.

Battery storage assets generally come in standardised containers and there’s plenty that we can do to minimise the visual impact - from installing fencing, to locating them near to established hedging. We also look for ways to improve the biodiversity of the land too, in the areas where there isn’t hardstanding.

We know that it’s our duty to protect the land where our assets are located. And at the end of the partnership, we’ll ensure that the land is put back in at least as good a state as it was given to us.

Speak to us about a partnership

We can help you work out whether a renewable energy development on your land is likely to be successful. To find out more, please contact the Centrica Energy Assets team. We’d be happy to help.