Implementation Lead(s): Scottish Government

Locations: All Scotland

Further reading:
Planning advice on energy storage

Institute of Mechanical Engineers:  ‘Energy Storage: The Missing Link in the UK’s Energy Commitments’

Scottish Renewables: ‘Energy Storage: The Basics’

Carbon Trust: ‘Energy Storage Report: Can storage help reduce the cost of a future UK electricity system?’

Environmental Mitigation: None Required

Ongoing Activity and Milestones:
Update online planning advice on energy storage as required.

The Scottish Energy Strategy, published by the Scottish Government on 20 December 2017, stated that developments in a wide range of energy storage technologies, and its application at a range of scales, will have a major influence on our future energy system. The strategy highlighted  a number of innovative projects underway across Scotland, supported by the Scottish Government, which demonstrate emerging energy storage technologies such as batteries and hydrogen.  as well as the need for action at UK level to deliver new pumped storage hydro capacity.

The Scottish Government has provided support for the Energy Systems Innovation Platform (ESIP), an initiative being led by The Carbon Trust in collaboration with a number of prominent energy companies, to develop viable business cases for investing in energy storage.

March 2016 – The Carbon Trust published a report which outlined significant cost savings for the UK electricity system, should the potential for energy storage be realised. The report, ‘Can storage help reduce the cost of a future UK electricity system?, led by Carbon Trust and Imperial College London and supported by the Scottish Government among others, is the most comprehensive review to date of the benefits of storage at a UK- system level.

January 2016 – ClimateXChange published two reports on the state of technological and market development in the context of Scotland’s energy policy ambitions. They cover thermal energy storage and electrical energy storage respectively.  Insights from each of these reports are presented in the Energy Storage in Scotland Summary to help support thinking on integrated energy policy.