Aug 18, 2025
Why Behind-the-Meter Batteries Matter: GreenBattery UK
Britain is rightly proud of its renewable revolution. Offshore wind farms stretch across the North Sea, rooftop solar panels are increasingly common and the UK has legally binding commitments to hit Net Zero by 2050. But while generation has surged ahead, the system that underpins it is straining.
Too often, clean energy is wasted because the grid cannot carry it to where it’s needed. This problem is known as curtailment, and it has become one of the most pressing issues in Britain’s energy transition. The irony is painful: at the very moment when businesses and households are grappling with high electricity bills, gigawatts of cheap renewable energy are being thrown away.
The solution isn’t to build endless new pylons and wires because that will take decades. The answer lies closer to home, at the very sites where energy is consumed. The answer is behind-the-meter batteries.
The Curtailment Crisis
Curtailment is what happens when renewable generators are told to switch off because the grid cannot absorb their output. In 2024, nearl was curtailed. Instead of flowing to homes and businesses, turbines were idled and solar panels disconnected.
The financial and environmental impact is staggering. Constraint payments (aka compensation to generators who are forced to shut down) already cost Projections suggest this could rise to £8 billion by 2030 if grid bottlenecks aren’t solved. To make matters worse, when renewables are curtailed, the grid often turns to gas plants instead, meaning consumers foot the bill twice: once for wasted renewables and again for imported fossil energy.
This is not just a technical hiccup. It is a systemic inefficiency, one that undermines both climate goals and business competitiveness.
A Grid Under Pressure
Britain’s transmission network was built for a different era; one in which coal and gas power stations supplied predictable baseload from a handful of large sites. Today, generation is decentralised, intermittent and increasingly located in remote areas. Offshore wind farms in Scotland, for example, often produce more power than local demand can absorb, but the transmission lines south to England are already congested.
Connection queues are now years long. More than four times as many battery projects are waiting in the pipeline than the system is forecast to need by 2030. Developers and investors are frustrated. Businesses that want to decarbonise are stuck.
Meanwhile, everyday energy users are paying the price. Grid costs are rising, volatility is increasing, and the infrastructure we rely on looks increasingly outdated.
Local Solutions for a National Problem
Behind-the-meter (BTM) storage takes a different approach. Instead of relying solely on the central grid, batteries are installed directly at the user’s site: behind their electricity meter. For an airport, warehouse, retailer, or logistics hub, that means the battery sits on their premises, charging and discharging in sync with their own demand.
This has several important advantages:
Energy cost management: Businesses can charge their battery when electricity is cheap (for example, overnight or during sunny/windy periods) and discharge during expensive peak hours.
Resilience: In the event of an outage or voltage fluctuation, a battery can provide backup to keep critical operations running.
Carbon reduction: On-site batteries help maximise the use of renewables, whether from rooftop solar or curtailed grid supply.
System benefits: Collectively, BTM batteries reduce pressure on the grid by soaking up excess generation locally and releasing it where it’s needed.
In other words, BTM storage doesn’t just help the businesses that install it, it contributes to solving one of the UK’s most expensive and environmentally damaging problems.
The CapEx Barrier
So why don’t more businesses have batteries already? The short answer is cost and complexity.
A multi-megawatt battery suitable for an industrial site can run into millions of pounds. For most businesses, that’s an enormous upfront expense for an asset that sits outside their core operations. Convincing a board or CFO to sign off on such a project (especially with uncertainty around technology lifetimes and returns) is an uphill battle.
Then comes the operational challenge. Batteries aren’t passive assets. To deliver maximum value, they must be optimised across multiple revenue streams: avoiding demand charges, capturing wholesale arbitrage, and participating in grid services. Most businesses don’t have an energy trading desk in-house, so the complexity alone can derail projects.
This CapEx and knowledge gap has left many potential projects stuck at the concept stage.
GreenBattery: No Upfront Spend
At VEST, we believe the solution isn’t just technological, it’s financial. That’s why we created GreenBattery, an investor-backed behind-the-meter battery solution for UK businesses.
Instead of asking businesses to purchase a battery outright, GreenBattery provides storage through a financing model that looks and feels like battery-as-a-service. Investors cover the upfront cost and we manage the optimisation. Businesses gain the benefits (lower bills, improved resilience, measurable carbon savings) without the heavy CapEx.
Think of it the way solar power took off a decade ago. Adoption soared once businesses could sign power purchase agreements instead of buying panels themselves. GreenBattery applies the same principle to storage, unlocking adoption for organisations that previously couldn’t justify the spend.
Real-World Applications
Consider a logistics warehouse struggling with demand charges from overnight EV fleet charging. A behind-the-meter battery allows the site to draw cheap power earlier in the day, store it, and use it later to charge vans without breaching costly grid peaks.
Or take an airport, where resilience is critical. A battery provides backup during outages, while also supporting day-to-day operations by flattening demand spikes. At scale, this isn’t just about savings, it’s about operational continuity and reputational leadership.
Retailers with multiple sites can benefit too. By deploying batteries across their estate, they not only cut costs but also create a tangible sustainability narrative to share with customers and investors.
Why Investors Back the Model
From the investor’s perspective, behind-the-meter storage represents a new infrastructure asset class. It offers predictable, inflation-linked revenues from long-term service contracts, while diversifying exposure away from merchant-only grid-scale batteries. Investors are also eager to demonstrate climate impact, and behind-the-meter projects offer clear carbon and social benefits.
This alignment of interests is powerful. Businesses gain access to cutting-edge storage without capital stress, while investors unlock a scalable market for distributed energy assets.
The Bigger Picture
Britain’s energy transition depends on storage. Without it, renewable generation will continue to be wasted, costs will spiral, and Net Zero targets will slip out of reach. Front-of-the-meter projects play a role, but behind-the-meter solutions may be just as critical, providing localised flexibility exactly where it’s needed.
By combining proven technology with an investor-backed business model, GreenBattery makes behind-the-meter storage practical, affordable, and scalable. It turns what has long been seen as an expensive “nice to have” into a service that businesses can adopt today.
FAQs: Behind-the-Meter Storage in the UK
Is behind-the-meter storage the same as grid-scale storage?
Not quite. Grid-scale (front-of-the-meter) projects are connected directly to the transmission network. Behind-the-meter batteries sit on a business’s site, directly integrated with their demand and generation.
What kind of businesses benefit most from behind-the-meter batteries?
High-energy users with significant demand peaks, such as airports, logistics hubs, warehouses, data centres, and retailers with large estates.
How long do the batteries last?
Typically 10–15 years, with performance warranties and augmentation strategies built into contracts.
Do I need on-site renewables for this to make sense?
No. While rooftop solar can enhance the value, behind-the-meter storage delivers savings and resilience even without local generation.
Is this CapEx or OpEx?
With GreenBattery’s investor-backed model, the solution is structured as an operational expense, making it easier to approve and removing upfront cost barriers.
Conclusion
The UK has made extraordinary progress in building renewable generation. But generation alone isn’t enough. Without storage, too much clean energy will continue to be wasted. Curtailment is already costing billions and undermining climate goals.
Behind-the-meter batteries are the missing piece of the puzzle. They empower businesses to cut costs, build resilience and decarbonise - all while supporting the national grid and reducing wasted renewable energy.
GreenBattery makes this transition possible. Investor-backed and zero-CapEx, it delivers battery-as-a-service for UK businesses, unlocking the benefits of storage without the financial or operational hurdles.
The renewable future is here. GreenBattery ensures it doesn’t go to waste.
Britain is rightly proud of its renewable revolution. Offshore wind farms stretch across the North Sea, rooftop solar panels are increasingly common and the UK has legally binding commitments to hit Net Zero by 2050. But while generation has surged ahead, the system that underpins it is straining.
Too often, clean energy is wasted because the grid cannot carry it to where it’s needed. This problem is known as curtailment, and it has become one of the most pressing issues in Britain’s energy transition. The irony is painful: at the very moment when businesses and households are grappling with high electricity bills, gigawatts of cheap renewable energy are being thrown away.
The solution isn’t to build endless new pylons and wires because that will take decades. The answer lies closer to home, at the very sites where energy is consumed. The answer is behind-the-meter batteries.
The Curtailment Crisis
Curtailment is what happens when renewable generators are told to switch off because the grid cannot absorb their output. In 2024, nearl was curtailed. Instead of flowing to homes and businesses, turbines were idled and solar panels disconnected.
The financial and environmental impact is staggering. Constraint payments (aka compensation to generators who are forced to shut down) already cost Projections suggest this could rise to £8 billion by 2030 if grid bottlenecks aren’t solved. To make matters worse, when renewables are curtailed, the grid often turns to gas plants instead, meaning consumers foot the bill twice: once for wasted renewables and again for imported fossil energy.
This is not just a technical hiccup. It is a systemic inefficiency, one that undermines both climate goals and business competitiveness.
A Grid Under Pressure
Britain’s transmission network was built for a different era; one in which coal and gas power stations supplied predictable baseload from a handful of large sites. Today, generation is decentralised, intermittent and increasingly located in remote areas. Offshore wind farms in Scotland, for example, often produce more power than local demand can absorb, but the transmission lines south to England are already congested.
Connection queues are now years long. More than four times as many battery projects are waiting in the pipeline than the system is forecast to need by 2030. Developers and investors are frustrated. Businesses that want to decarbonise are stuck.
Meanwhile, everyday energy users are paying the price. Grid costs are rising, volatility is increasing, and the infrastructure we rely on looks increasingly outdated.
Local Solutions for a National Problem
Behind-the-meter (BTM) storage takes a different approach. Instead of relying solely on the central grid, batteries are installed directly at the user’s site: behind their electricity meter. For an airport, warehouse, retailer, or logistics hub, that means the battery sits on their premises, charging and discharging in sync with their own demand.
This has several important advantages:
Energy cost management: Businesses can charge their battery when electricity is cheap (for example, overnight or during sunny/windy periods) and discharge during expensive peak hours.
Resilience: In the event of an outage or voltage fluctuation, a battery can provide backup to keep critical operations running.
Carbon reduction: On-site batteries help maximise the use of renewables, whether from rooftop solar or curtailed grid supply.
System benefits: Collectively, BTM batteries reduce pressure on the grid by soaking up excess generation locally and releasing it where it’s needed.
In other words, BTM storage doesn’t just help the businesses that install it, it contributes to solving one of the UK’s most expensive and environmentally damaging problems.
The CapEx Barrier
So why don’t more businesses have batteries already? The short answer is cost and complexity.
A multi-megawatt battery suitable for an industrial site can run into millions of pounds. For most businesses, that’s an enormous upfront expense for an asset that sits outside their core operations. Convincing a board or CFO to sign off on such a project (especially with uncertainty around technology lifetimes and returns) is an uphill battle.
Then comes the operational challenge. Batteries aren’t passive assets. To deliver maximum value, they must be optimised across multiple revenue streams: avoiding demand charges, capturing wholesale arbitrage, and participating in grid services. Most businesses don’t have an energy trading desk in-house, so the complexity alone can derail projects.
This CapEx and knowledge gap has left many potential projects stuck at the concept stage.
GreenBattery: No Upfront Spend
At VEST, we believe the solution isn’t just technological, it’s financial. That’s why we created GreenBattery, an investor-backed behind-the-meter battery solution for UK businesses.
Instead of asking businesses to purchase a battery outright, GreenBattery provides storage through a financing model that looks and feels like battery-as-a-service. Investors cover the upfront cost and we manage the optimisation. Businesses gain the benefits (lower bills, improved resilience, measurable carbon savings) without the heavy CapEx.
Think of it the way solar power took off a decade ago. Adoption soared once businesses could sign power purchase agreements instead of buying panels themselves. GreenBattery applies the same principle to storage, unlocking adoption for organisations that previously couldn’t justify the spend.
Real-World Applications
Consider a logistics warehouse struggling with demand charges from overnight EV fleet charging. A behind-the-meter battery allows the site to draw cheap power earlier in the day, store it, and use it later to charge vans without breaching costly grid peaks.
Or take an airport, where resilience is critical. A battery provides backup during outages, while also supporting day-to-day operations by flattening demand spikes. At scale, this isn’t just about savings, it’s about operational continuity and reputational leadership.
Retailers with multiple sites can benefit too. By deploying batteries across their estate, they not only cut costs but also create a tangible sustainability narrative to share with customers and investors.
Why Investors Back the Model
From the investor’s perspective, behind-the-meter storage represents a new infrastructure asset class. It offers predictable, inflation-linked revenues from long-term service contracts, while diversifying exposure away from merchant-only grid-scale batteries. Investors are also eager to demonstrate climate impact, and behind-the-meter projects offer clear carbon and social benefits.
This alignment of interests is powerful. Businesses gain access to cutting-edge storage without capital stress, while investors unlock a scalable market for distributed energy assets.
The Bigger Picture
Britain’s energy transition depends on storage. Without it, renewable generation will continue to be wasted, costs will spiral, and Net Zero targets will slip out of reach. Front-of-the-meter projects play a role, but behind-the-meter solutions may be just as critical, providing localised flexibility exactly where it’s needed.
By combining proven technology with an investor-backed business model, GreenBattery makes behind-the-meter storage practical, affordable, and scalable. It turns what has long been seen as an expensive “nice to have” into a service that businesses can adopt today.
FAQs: Behind-the-Meter Storage in the UK
Is behind-the-meter storage the same as grid-scale storage?
Not quite. Grid-scale (front-of-the-meter) projects are connected directly to the transmission network. Behind-the-meter batteries sit on a business’s site, directly integrated with their demand and generation.
What kind of businesses benefit most from behind-the-meter batteries?
High-energy users with significant demand peaks, such as airports, logistics hubs, warehouses, data centres, and retailers with large estates.
How long do the batteries last?
Typically 10–15 years, with performance warranties and augmentation strategies built into contracts.
Do I need on-site renewables for this to make sense?
No. While rooftop solar can enhance the value, behind-the-meter storage delivers savings and resilience even without local generation.
Is this CapEx or OpEx?
With GreenBattery’s investor-backed model, the solution is structured as an operational expense, making it easier to approve and removing upfront cost barriers.
Conclusion
The UK has made extraordinary progress in building renewable generation. But generation alone isn’t enough. Without storage, too much clean energy will continue to be wasted. Curtailment is already costing billions and undermining climate goals.
Behind-the-meter batteries are the missing piece of the puzzle. They empower businesses to cut costs, build resilience and decarbonise - all while supporting the national grid and reducing wasted renewable energy.
GreenBattery makes this transition possible. Investor-backed and zero-CapEx, it delivers battery-as-a-service for UK businesses, unlocking the benefits of storage without the financial or operational hurdles.
The renewable future is here. GreenBattery ensures it doesn’t go to waste.
Britain is rightly proud of its renewable revolution. Offshore wind farms stretch across the North Sea, rooftop solar panels are increasingly common and the UK has legally binding commitments to hit Net Zero by 2050. But while generation has surged ahead, the system that underpins it is straining.
Too often, clean energy is wasted because the grid cannot carry it to where it’s needed. This problem is known as curtailment, and it has become one of the most pressing issues in Britain’s energy transition. The irony is painful: at the very moment when businesses and households are grappling with high electricity bills, gigawatts of cheap renewable energy are being thrown away.
The solution isn’t to build endless new pylons and wires because that will take decades. The answer lies closer to home, at the very sites where energy is consumed. The answer is behind-the-meter batteries.
The Curtailment Crisis
Curtailment is what happens when renewable generators are told to switch off because the grid cannot absorb their output. In 2024, nearl was curtailed. Instead of flowing to homes and businesses, turbines were idled and solar panels disconnected.
The financial and environmental impact is staggering. Constraint payments (aka compensation to generators who are forced to shut down) already cost Projections suggest this could rise to £8 billion by 2030 if grid bottlenecks aren’t solved. To make matters worse, when renewables are curtailed, the grid often turns to gas plants instead, meaning consumers foot the bill twice: once for wasted renewables and again for imported fossil energy.
This is not just a technical hiccup. It is a systemic inefficiency, one that undermines both climate goals and business competitiveness.
A Grid Under Pressure
Britain’s transmission network was built for a different era; one in which coal and gas power stations supplied predictable baseload from a handful of large sites. Today, generation is decentralised, intermittent and increasingly located in remote areas. Offshore wind farms in Scotland, for example, often produce more power than local demand can absorb, but the transmission lines south to England are already congested.
Connection queues are now years long. More than four times as many battery projects are waiting in the pipeline than the system is forecast to need by 2030. Developers and investors are frustrated. Businesses that want to decarbonise are stuck.
Meanwhile, everyday energy users are paying the price. Grid costs are rising, volatility is increasing, and the infrastructure we rely on looks increasingly outdated.
Local Solutions for a National Problem
Behind-the-meter (BTM) storage takes a different approach. Instead of relying solely on the central grid, batteries are installed directly at the user’s site: behind their electricity meter. For an airport, warehouse, retailer, or logistics hub, that means the battery sits on their premises, charging and discharging in sync with their own demand.
This has several important advantages:
Energy cost management: Businesses can charge their battery when electricity is cheap (for example, overnight or during sunny/windy periods) and discharge during expensive peak hours.
Resilience: In the event of an outage or voltage fluctuation, a battery can provide backup to keep critical operations running.
Carbon reduction: On-site batteries help maximise the use of renewables, whether from rooftop solar or curtailed grid supply.
System benefits: Collectively, BTM batteries reduce pressure on the grid by soaking up excess generation locally and releasing it where it’s needed.
In other words, BTM storage doesn’t just help the businesses that install it, it contributes to solving one of the UK’s most expensive and environmentally damaging problems.
The CapEx Barrier
So why don’t more businesses have batteries already? The short answer is cost and complexity.
A multi-megawatt battery suitable for an industrial site can run into millions of pounds. For most businesses, that’s an enormous upfront expense for an asset that sits outside their core operations. Convincing a board or CFO to sign off on such a project (especially with uncertainty around technology lifetimes and returns) is an uphill battle.
Then comes the operational challenge. Batteries aren’t passive assets. To deliver maximum value, they must be optimised across multiple revenue streams: avoiding demand charges, capturing wholesale arbitrage, and participating in grid services. Most businesses don’t have an energy trading desk in-house, so the complexity alone can derail projects.
This CapEx and knowledge gap has left many potential projects stuck at the concept stage.
GreenBattery: No Upfront Spend
At VEST, we believe the solution isn’t just technological, it’s financial. That’s why we created GreenBattery, an investor-backed behind-the-meter battery solution for UK businesses.
Instead of asking businesses to purchase a battery outright, GreenBattery provides storage through a financing model that looks and feels like battery-as-a-service. Investors cover the upfront cost and we manage the optimisation. Businesses gain the benefits (lower bills, improved resilience, measurable carbon savings) without the heavy CapEx.
Think of it the way solar power took off a decade ago. Adoption soared once businesses could sign power purchase agreements instead of buying panels themselves. GreenBattery applies the same principle to storage, unlocking adoption for organisations that previously couldn’t justify the spend.
Real-World Applications
Consider a logistics warehouse struggling with demand charges from overnight EV fleet charging. A behind-the-meter battery allows the site to draw cheap power earlier in the day, store it, and use it later to charge vans without breaching costly grid peaks.
Or take an airport, where resilience is critical. A battery provides backup during outages, while also supporting day-to-day operations by flattening demand spikes. At scale, this isn’t just about savings, it’s about operational continuity and reputational leadership.
Retailers with multiple sites can benefit too. By deploying batteries across their estate, they not only cut costs but also create a tangible sustainability narrative to share with customers and investors.
Why Investors Back the Model
From the investor’s perspective, behind-the-meter storage represents a new infrastructure asset class. It offers predictable, inflation-linked revenues from long-term service contracts, while diversifying exposure away from merchant-only grid-scale batteries. Investors are also eager to demonstrate climate impact, and behind-the-meter projects offer clear carbon and social benefits.
This alignment of interests is powerful. Businesses gain access to cutting-edge storage without capital stress, while investors unlock a scalable market for distributed energy assets.
The Bigger Picture
Britain’s energy transition depends on storage. Without it, renewable generation will continue to be wasted, costs will spiral, and Net Zero targets will slip out of reach. Front-of-the-meter projects play a role, but behind-the-meter solutions may be just as critical, providing localised flexibility exactly where it’s needed.
By combining proven technology with an investor-backed business model, GreenBattery makes behind-the-meter storage practical, affordable, and scalable. It turns what has long been seen as an expensive “nice to have” into a service that businesses can adopt today.
FAQs: Behind-the-Meter Storage in the UK
Is behind-the-meter storage the same as grid-scale storage?
Not quite. Grid-scale (front-of-the-meter) projects are connected directly to the transmission network. Behind-the-meter batteries sit on a business’s site, directly integrated with their demand and generation.
What kind of businesses benefit most from behind-the-meter batteries?
High-energy users with significant demand peaks, such as airports, logistics hubs, warehouses, data centres, and retailers with large estates.
How long do the batteries last?
Typically 10–15 years, with performance warranties and augmentation strategies built into contracts.
Do I need on-site renewables for this to make sense?
No. While rooftop solar can enhance the value, behind-the-meter storage delivers savings and resilience even without local generation.
Is this CapEx or OpEx?
With GreenBattery’s investor-backed model, the solution is structured as an operational expense, making it easier to approve and removing upfront cost barriers.
Conclusion
The UK has made extraordinary progress in building renewable generation. But generation alone isn’t enough. Without storage, too much clean energy will continue to be wasted. Curtailment is already costing billions and undermining climate goals.
Behind-the-meter batteries are the missing piece of the puzzle. They empower businesses to cut costs, build resilience and decarbonise - all while supporting the national grid and reducing wasted renewable energy.
GreenBattery makes this transition possible. Investor-backed and zero-CapEx, it delivers battery-as-a-service for UK businesses, unlocking the benefits of storage without the financial or operational hurdles.
The renewable future is here. GreenBattery ensures it doesn’t go to waste.
