Ben Wallace, Development Director, AMP Clean Energy
The UK Government has set an ambitious goal to achieve a clean power system by 2030. This will involve the development of a huge amount of renewable infrastructure, including a significant increase in wind and solar capacity.
Due to the intermittency of renewables, energy storage is also set to play a huge role in supporting this goal, to first capture renewable power on windy days, then export it when it’s cold and dark – delivering both a low carbon and a secure energy system.
Energy storage takes many forms, and we have seen plenty of high-profile grid-scale assets being developed. These projects can be hundreds of megawatts, covering dozens of acres.
The big projects help to balance our electricity system at a national level, but our local electricity networks also have an urgent need for reinforcement and support as we connect heat pumps and electric vehicles. Therefore, smaller scale and local energy storage projects are also set to play a vital role in our clean energy future.
This presents a unique opportunity for local authorities and other public sector bodies. How? By turning small plots of unused land into sites for a small Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
The energy storage opportunity
Local authorities will play a vital role in the road to net zero.
However, when it comes to spending on sustainability, local councils and other public sector bodies are under intense scrutiny.
Many local councils are also, sometimes unknowingly, sitting on a huge amount of ‘orphaned’ land that can’t be used for anything productive. These can include grass verges, sites such as small parcels of land between buildings, or even unused car parking spaces.
These sites often have little or no development potential and can be expensive to maintain. However, innovations in energy storage technologies mean that this surplus land could be given a new lease of life by installing a small BESS.
Doing so benefits local councils in three key ways:
- Supporting sustainability plans and economic growth – many local authorities are leading the way with plans to reduce their impact on the environment through carbon emissions reduction initiatives. Energy storage provides a way of supporting these plans, particularly when budgets are under scrutiny, to both meet climate goals and support economic growth. For example, independent estimates show that one of our Battery Box storage facilities saves around 160 tonnes of CO2 per year.
- Providing renewable power to local networks and supporting grid resilience – as we make the transition to renewable power, energy storage will be crucial to maintaining security of supply in local areas by preventing power cuts, particularly during times of low wind and solar output. And, by reducing the amount of investment needed to upgrade local networks, it can reduce the impact to bills.
- Proving the opportunity to earn long-term income – perhaps most importantly, installing a small scale asset on a piece of unused land comes at no cost to a local council. Rather, it provides a source of long term indexed rental revenue that can be reinvested in local communities.
Making the most of ‘wasted’ land
So, if a local authority has a suitable piece of land, how does a small-scale asset work?
Each BESS connects directly into the local electricity network, the same network that supplies homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals. Needing just 24m2 of land, they charge when the cost of electricity is low, which is normally on windy or sunny days when there is excess renewable power, or overnight when the demand for power is reduced.
They then discharge electricity back into the local network when the demand for power is high, normally early evenings or weekdays.
Being small and connecting locally means they can be built almost anywhere. We are working with many local councils to deliver projects, having signed leases with over a dozen local authorities and organisations such as the Canal and River Trust and the National Football Trust.
Towards a secure and sustainable energy future
Small-scale distributed energy storage will play a vital role in supporting the roll out of renewable energy and the increase in electrification. For local authorities with surplus unused land, this presents a real opportunity to not only lower emissions, support the low-carbon transition and help local economic growth, but to also earn long-term revenue. A win-win for everyone.
For more information about AMP’s Battery Box technologies, visit https://www.ampcleanenergy.com/grid-flexibility/battery-box/
This article appeared in the March 2026 issue of Energy Manager magazine. Subscribe here.