Government is consulting on changing planning rules for new energy schemes that combine energy storage with other forms of generation.
At present, schemes under 50MW go through local planning. Those above 50MW have to go through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime.
The department for business, energy and industrial strategy thinks that the 50MW cap is not a problem for standalone storage and is not distorting investment decisions.
But it plans to change the threshold for storage projects co-located with other forms of generation so that as long as each aspect is under 50MW – e.g. a 49.9MW solar farm with 49.9MW of storage – the project would stay in the local planning regime.
See details here.
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