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NextEnergy UK has acquired a 107MW, 151MWh standalone battery storage portfolio from Eku Energy, three South East England sites all backed by Capacity Market contracts

The Maldon, Loudwater and Basildon projects lift NextEnergy's standalone battery capacity to 165MW, another sign of how much grid-scale battery capacity is now stacking up on the same South East England network that domestic and utility-scale solar connections compete for.

16 August 2026 · Source: Solar Power Portal

NextEnergy UK has bought a 107MW, 151MWh standalone battery storage portfolio from Eku Energy, comprising three sites in South East England: Maldon (40MW/40MWh, already operational), Loudwater (39MW/55MWh) and Basildon (28MW/56MWh), both commissioning-complete. All three carry Capacity Market contracts, giving them a guaranteed revenue stream for providing grid flexibility regardless of whether they're paired with generation on site. The acquisition takes NextEnergy's standalone battery capacity to 165MW.

Unlike the solar-plus-storage projects this site has covered recently, this is batteries with no panels attached, built purely to buy and sell grid flexibility. It's a different business model from a co-located project like Kentishes or Tophams, but it draws on the same underlying trend, standalone battery storage is now a mature, actively traded asset class in the UK, not just a bolt-on to solar farms.

The relevance for a Sandwich homeowner is indirect but real. Standalone BESS portfolios like this one sit on the same regional grid infrastructure, and often the same substations, as the solar-plus-storage projects and domestic MCS connections this site tracks. More standalone battery capacity coming online in the South East adds to the pool of assets competing for grid capacity and connection slots, the same congestion this site has flagged repeatedly in coverage of DNO connection delays.

No action needed from a homeowner here either, this is a wholesale-market transaction between two infrastructure investors, not a scheme. It's a useful data point on how crowded the South East England grid-connection picture is becoming, though, with utility-scale solar, co-located storage and now standalone battery portfolios all drawing on the same finite capacity.

Read the original: Solar Power Portal. Commentary is Sandwich Solar's own editorial view; the original reporting is credited to its publisher.

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