Developer Geocore has received planning consent from the Scottish Government for its 300 MW / 600 MWh Newarthill battery storage project in North Lanarkshire.

The project is designed to provide grid balancing services and has a grid connection date of October 2027 on the transmission network.

However, some uncertainty exists, as it does for most UK-based renewables developers at present, due to the sweeping grid connection reforms currently being pursued by the government, National Energy System Operator and Ofgem.

While Geocore has been handed a so-called Gate 2a protected grid connection under the latest reform proposals, further progress on Newarthill could be thwarted until the final settlement for grid access is decided.

One key component of progressing the BESS is to find an investor to acquire the asset, and Geocore has appointed HNH as sell-side adviser to manage the process.

The developer is understood to have already received some non-binding offers for the project, although it is continuing its bid to secure a final agreement with an investor over the coming weeks and months.

Newarthill is Geocore’s largest battery to date, following the company’s 40 MW / 80 MWh Kellwood Road project in Dumfries, which secured consent in 2024. The group is also working with HNH on a separate sales process for that project, with the transaction understood to be ongoing.

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