Downing gets approval for 140MW BESS projects in UK

Downing Renewable Developments (DRD) has secured two planning consents in a week, as it continues to develop its pipeline of renewable energy developments in the UK.

It was granted approval for a 40MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Heanor, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands, and then for a further 100MW BESS project near Rowley Regis in the West Midlands. When constructed, the projects will add significant assets to Downing-managed funds.

The subsidiary of investment manager Downing, DRD was granted its first planning consent last year for a 49.9MW solar farm in Norfolk, part of its 6GW pipeline of development projects across the UK.

The Rowley Regis project — known as the Edwin Richards Energy Storage Park — will store enough energy to power up to 300,000 homes for a two-hour period while the Heanor Energy Park will store enough renewable energy to power up to 120,000 homes for a two-hour period, DRD said.

“Being granted two planning consents in a week is another significant milestone for our business. Equally importantly, both projects received no objections from the public, showing the importance of how our team engage with local communities,” Tony Gannon, Head of Downing Renewable Developments, said. “Both projects show our commitment to the Midlands, and will make a contribution to the UK’s Net Zero goals.”  

DRD is developing the Edwin Richards Energy Storage Park in partnership with waste and resource management firm FCC Environment.

“Our relationship with FCC Environment has been an important step as we continue to grow our business, particularly given the joint benefits we can achieve by using largely brownfield land for renewable energy purposes,” Gannon said.  

“As one of the UK’s largest waste and resource businesses, we know it’s our duty to do the best by our environment and the communities in which we operate,” said FCC Environment CEO Steve Longdon. “We have a large landholding across the UK, and it is our responsibility as land stewards to manage that land in a sustainable way and return it back to productive environmental use once it is no longer required for operational purposes. As such we are delighted to be working with DRD on this and other projects to do just that.”