L

Lord Whitehead (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 26 February 2026

Debate

Fire and Rescue Services: Clean Energy Projects

Contribution

The Government are actively exploring additional measures to manage safety risks on the grid-scale battery energy storage sites. That is important in the context, as the noble Earl mentions, of the substantial expansion that there will be in batteries as an essential part of the UK’s balancing energy system for the future. In August, Defra published a consultation on modernising the environmental permitting regime for industry, which included proposals to include BESS within scope of environmental permitting regulations. The Government are currently reviewing industry feedback and will publish a response in due course. That would require battery developers to demonstrate to the Environment Agency how specific risks were being managed while also providing for ongoing regulatory inspections of battery sites.

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