In October 2024, battery energy storage systems in Great Britain earned an average revenue of £50.3k/MW (annualized). This made October the most lucrative month for batteries in a year. The highest-earning systems followed a range of strategies to achieve this, like focusing on Dynamic Regulation or the Balancing Mechanism.
Our market update discusses battery energy storage revenue, including Capacity Market earnings, on a £/MW/year basis. We discuss revenue excluding the Capacity Market for monthly battery operations updates. That’s because the Capacity Market does not impact operational strategies.
Batteries focused on Dynamic Regulation High and the Balancing Mechanism earned the highest revenues
Wishaw and Roaring Hill were the two highest-earning batteries in October, both earning £78k/MW/year. Wishaw followed a strategy that mixed Balancing Mechanism and wholesale trading. On the other hand, Roaring Hill—which became operational in June 2024—used Dynamic Regulation High to import energy. Meanwhile, Buxton, another newly operational system, earned the most Balancing Mechanism revenue of any system.
Roaring Hill was one of the highest cycling two-hour batteries in October, performing 1.6 cycles per day. Wishaw cycled 1.2 times per day on average, meaning it outperformed its expected revenue by more than any other battery.
Batteries earn revenue based on the spread between the cost of their imports and the earnings from their exports. The best-performing batteries all exported energy primarily in wholesale markets, with Buxton focusing more on Balancing Mechanism exports. However, they imported energy in different markets. Wishaw had imported more Balancing Mechanism energy than other batteries, while Buxton purchased energy in wholesale markets. Meanwhile, Roaring Hill imported more energy through Dynamic Regulation High than any other battery.