Beacon Fen Energy Park has secured planning approval through the UK government’s nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) pipeline, paving the way for construction at one of the largest co-located solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) assets in the country.
The project developed by Low Carbon is planned as a 400 MW solar plant sharing a grid connection with a BESS rated for 600 MW power output. Construction is expected to begin at the transmission connected project in 2027 according to the project website. pv magazine understands full commissioning is viewed as likely to take place in the early 2030s.
Located on the east of Sleaford, England, Beacon Fen Energy Park has a grid connection in excess of its planned installed solar capacity, with a higher power output from the co-located BESS asset.
Gird operator NESO‘ transmission entry capacity (TEC) register records a 600 MW connection for the Beacon Fen Energy Park project at the Bicker Fen 400 kV substation, as well as a 400 MW connection for the Heckington Fen Solar Park, a nearby co-located solar and storage project approved by the UK government in January 2025.
The project will connect to the same substation at the Viking Link, the world’s longest onshore and subsea HVDC interconnector stretching 765 km from the United Kingdom to Denmark.
In a press release, Mike Rutgers, managing director of UK development, described securing a development consent order as a “landmark moment” for Low Carbon and noted it was the first major energy structure taken under the new secretary of state.
Planning approval for Beacon Fen was granted by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) secretary of state, Miatta Fahnbulleh. Energy generating projects in England with capacity greater than 100 MW are assessed by the UK Planning Inspectorate before the final approval decision is made by central government.
Fahnbulleh’s predecessor markedly increased the pace of large-scale solar planning approvals since the last UK general election in July 2024, and the approval of another major co-located project following a change in Prime Minister in July 2026 suggests continued support for utility-scale solar deployment at the top of DESNZ.
Solar Energy UK CEO Chris Hewett told pv magazine in June that the industry association did not expect a change of approach on grid-scale solar approvals from the government, which had largely stalled before 2024. The UK government now has until Sept. 10 to decide on its next major solar project approval, the 840 MW Botley West Solar Farm.
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