UAE’s Masdar Subsidiary breaks ground on two UK sites as part of £1 Billion BESS Investment

UAE’s Masdar Subsidiary breaks ground on two UK sites as part of £1 Billion BESS Investment

Masdar Arlington Energy, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC – Masdar, has broken ground at the sites of two new battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the UK.

The Royle Barn Road plant in Rochdale and Welkin Road plant in Stockport will have a combined capacity of 55MW and provide enough energy to power 25,700 homes.

The new BESS projects are being developed on previously industrialized sites, conforming to Masdar Arlington Energy’s strategy to house projects on land in need of redevelopment and regeneration.

Masdar Arlington Energy is pursuing an ambitious 3GWh pipeline of BESS projects in the UK. Today’s groundbreaking comes a year after Masdar announced the company’s commitment to invest £1 billion in BESS in the UK.

BESS provides a solution to the intermittency issues which affect renewable energy sources, storing excess electricity generated by solar plants and wind farms to be distributed during the periods when they are unable to provide power.

Masdar’s acquisition of UK-based Arlington Energy in October 2022 acted as a springboard for the company’s shift from investor to an active developer and supporter of the UK’s energy transition through BESS and offshore wind. In 2021, Masdar established its global headquarters for offshore wind in