Apatura receives approval to build a 560 MW BESS.
In the heart of Scotland, near Glasgow, one of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects tied to the energy transition is taking shape. A few days ago, Apatura received approval from Scotland’s Energy Consents Unit to build a battery energy storage system (BESS) with impressive parameters: 560 MW of power and 1.12 GWh of capacity. This marks the eleventh such project approved for Apatura in the past two years. In total, the company now holds consent to develop 2.1 GW of storage projects across Scotland.
Strategic Location and Role in the UK Energy System
The new BESS project will be built on a 29-hectare site, connected to key points in the transmission network: Windyhill substation (just 560 meters away) and Drumchapel substation (around 3 km from the site). As Andrew Philpott, Apatura’s Development Director, emphasized, the location was strategically chosen to enhance the UK’s energy security and to build a resilient infrastructure essential for a net-zero future.
The decision to locate the project near Glasgow is no coincidence. Scotland generates large amounts of wind energy — more than can currently be transmitted south to the rest of the UK. A congested interconnector between Scotland and England has driven up curtailment costs, meaning renewable generation must sometimes be reduced or shut off. Energy storage is therefore critical to capture excess power when it’s abundant and feed it into the grid during peak demand.
Data Center in Ravenscraig
Alongside investments in conventional battery storage, Apatura announced in June a data center project supported by BESS, to be built on the site of the former Ravenscraig steelworks near Motherwell.
The planned computing facility will have a 550 MW grid connection, scheduled to be operational by 2030. It will be one of five “AI-ready sites” — locations specifically designed to handle advanced artificial intelligence workloads, which Apatura is currently developing in central Scotland. In total, the company holds 1.6 GW of confirmed grid connections for these projects.
Apatura has submitted the Ravenscraig location to the UK government’s AI Growth Zone program, which supports innovative sites critical to AI development in the country. If selected, the project will become one of the most important data centers in Europe, with an estimated construction cost of £3.9 billion (approx. $5.3 billion).
Source: apatura.energy