Solar & Storage Live returned to Birmingham this year, once again gathering the UK’s clean energy leaders to debate the future of solar, storage, and the wider energy transition.
Among the many conversations was a discussion with Louise Dalton, Energy Partner at CMS and Founder of Women in Energy Storage (WinES), who has been at the forefront of advising on some of the country’s largest renewable energy and storage projects.
In this interview, Dalton outlines the legal and regulatory bottlenecks slowing the scale-up of storage in the UK – from grid access and planning hurdles to investor confidence and international competition.
In your view, what are the main legal or regulatory bottlenecks that are slowing down scaling up storage in the UK?
Louise: We obviously have the grid connection queue issues, which are ongoing. That’s been a challenge across technologies, but particularly for storage given how quickly the sector has grown recently. Grid access has definitely been part of it.
Planning has also played a role, partly because some local authorities don’t yet have the experience or understanding of storage. It hasn’t been properly incorporated into national or local policy, which makes it harder for projects to progress.
My planning team spends a lot of time on appeals, often because storage hasn’t been well understood or because risks – such as fire – have been overstated, leading to strong local objections.
The revenue market has also been key. Since 2022, it’s been a major driver for investment, with fantastic revenues in frequency response and a lot of volatility. But 2023 and 2024 were not as positive, and that impacted equity investment.
We are now seeing new contracted revenue structures, such as tolling, which help. Still, there is a funding gap: investors are more interested in de-risked projects than those at earlier development or construction stages.
We’re also competing internationally. Italy, for example, has its Maxi auction, and Germany is very active. International investors who want storage exposure don’t necessarily have to put their money into the UK.
They may prefer markets with stronger perceived returns or more supportive schemes, such as Italy’s Maxi, which offers greater de-risking.
Additionally, we need more liquidity and further innovation in de-risking products for storage. Insurance products like the Nafila deal are promising, but they’re still limited in scope.
Contracting has also been an issue. We’ve seen two well-publicised insolvencies of balance-of-plant providers in recent years. While OEM competition remains strong, the wider contracting landscape can be problematic.
This has led to project delays, sometimes due to grid operators not honouring connection dates or failing to order equipment, and other times simply because construction takes longer than expected.
Are there specific frameworks or regulations that you believe are doing more harm than good?
Louise: There’s talk about bringing environmental impact assessments into play for batteries, potentially even retrospectively. That feels like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut – it just adds unnecessary red tape that hasn’t been needed so far.
There are concerns about bankability and whether it’s truly fit for long-duration storage. It borrows heavily from the interconnector regime without properly addressing the different ways storage assets generate revenue, their construction challenges, or their operational risks.
There’s also the risk of unintended consequences. Long-duration schemes of eight hours or more, supported under this regime, could end up cannibalising revenues for shorter-duration storage.
How much volume is procured will matter, but it’s a classic case of solving one problem while creating another.
On the positive side, there are good ideas in REMA – particularly around national pricing reform. For batteries, reducing gate closure and settlement periods could enable operators to capture more volatility, which would benefit storage. But it’s taking far too long to implement.
Everyone knows balancing costs remain an issue, and there’s broad consensus that reform is needed – we just need to get on with it.
As someone in a leadership position and speaking at the Women in Energy Storage Meet Up, what key barriers have you observed for women and underrepresented groups in this sector?
Louise: Speaking from a UK perspective, there’s very little gender diversity at senior levels. I don’t know of any female CEOs in the sector, and only one female CFO. At more junior levels, though, there is more diversity – both in terms of gender and other underrepresented groups.
The problem is that without diversity at senior levels, it’s harder to promote people into leadership roles. Junior staff also lack role models to look up to.
Beyond that, underrepresented groups may face additional barriers, such as childcare responsibilities, confidence issues, or being overlooked for major responsibilities and instead given administrative tasks. Opportunities – like speaking roles – may also be unevenly distributed.
With Women in Energy Storage (WinES), we’ve seen a really positive reception, including from senior people in the sector.
I don’t think it’s about overt bias – often people just don’t know what they can do to help. That’s why we set up WinES: to create a network where women can connect, recommend, promote, and support each other in their careers.
A big focus now is representation at conferences. We’ve launched a speaker training programme to encourage more junior women to take on speaking roles, and we’re working with conference organisers to suggest female speakers they may not know of, to ensure gender diversity on panels.
There’s still more that companies can do – mentorship, tackling unconscious bias, and supporting people who might otherwise hold themselves back.
Ultimately, it’s about helping underrepresented groups feel they can push forward to the next level of their careers.
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