Renewable energy project approvals hit record high in GB in 2025, data shows
A record number of renewable energy projects were given the go-ahead in Great Britain in 2025, after planning approvals almost doubled year on year, according to an analysis.The energy capacity of new battery, wind, and solar projects that received approval climbed to 45GW this year, 96% higher than in 2024, according to data from Cornwall Insight.The boom was driven by applications to build new battery storage, which almost doubled to 28.6GW this year from 14.9GW in 2024.
Planning approvals for offshore wind developments jumped more than sevenfold to 9.9GW from 1.3GW last year.Planning approvals for battery, wind and solar power have risen by more than 400% over the past five years.The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said: “After years of delay and underinvestment, this government is keeping its promise to take back control of Britain’s energy with clean homegrown power.
“Every project we approve, every investment we make is about getting the country off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets, protecting households and lowering bills for good.”The record-breaking surge in planning approvals signals real momentum in the UK’s energy transition, according to Robin Clarke, a senior analyst at Cornwall Insight, but many could still face delays starting up.“On paper, the UK’s renewables pipeline has never looked stronger,” he said.“But approvals don’t generate electricity, and we urgently need to move from ambition to actual delivery of these projects.Too much capacity is still stuck in queues or waiting on grid upgrades.
Grid bottlenecks remain one of the biggest risks to turning today’s approvals into tomorrow’s power.”Although approvals have accelerated, the pace of projects starting up has lagged behind, largely as a result of long construction timelines and grid connection delays, according to Cornwall.Many projects have been stuck in a “first come, first served” connections queue, but recent reforms to remove “zombie projects” from the queue and shift to a “first ready, first needed, first connected” approach is expected to clear some of the bottlenecks and quicken the pace of Britain’s renewable energy buildout.Britain’s energy system operator pulled the plug on hundreds of electricity generation projects earlier this month to clear a huge backlog that had stopped many “shovel-ready” schemes from connecting to the power grid.More than half of the energy projects in the queue will be removed to make way for about £40bn-worth of schemes considered the most likely to help meet the government’s goal to build a virtually zero-carbon power system by 2030.
Britain’s growing renewables industry may also have accelerated in 2025 as developers rush to get their projects over the line before tougher rules over which projects can connect to the grid, and upcoming local elections that could create uncertainty over future renewable energy planning policies,Clarke said: “The recent grid connection reforms are a significant step forward, and should help clear some of the backlog, but they won’t solve everything,We need faster decisions, more investment in the grid, and real collaboration between government, regulators and industry,Without that, these record numbers risk becoming just another statistic,”Cornwall added that the rapid expansion of renewable projects would also mean the UK must reinforce and build out its electricity grid at scale.
“The current infrastructure was never designed for such high volumes of intermittent generation and storage, so investment in grid flexibility, transmission upgrades, and smart technologies will be critical to ensure these projects can deliver power where and when it’s needed,” it said.
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