Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub

Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub is a battery energy storage system currently under construction around 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Doncaster, near the villages of Thorpe in Balne and Barnby Dun, in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated on a brownfield site between the remnants of Thorpe Marsh Power Station to the east, and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve to the west.^[1]

When completed, the energy hub will be the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom,^[2] and one of the largest in Europe and the world,^[3] being capable of storing up to 3.1 GWh (11 TJ) of energy at a power of 1.4 GW.^[4] This, however, does not make it the UK's largest energy storage site, which, as of September 2025, is Dinorwig Power Station in north Wales, with a capacity of 9.1 GWh (33 TJ).^[5] Thorpe Marsh is expected to be capable of exporting 2,000 GWh (7,200 TJ) to the grid per annum.^[6]

The project was first announced by Banks Renewables in October 2022,^[1] having acquired the land from Able UK, which had demolished the power station's six cooling towers in 2012.^[7][8] Initially, the plan was to recover up to 2.25 million metric tonnes of pulverised fuel ash^[9] which had been deposited on the site during the power station's years of operation.^[10] However, by July 2023, this aspect of the project was deemed uneconomical and was therefore abandoned in favour of simply flattening the raised fly ash embankments which intersected the site boundaries.^[9] Banks intended to install the batteries and a new substation in the northern part of the site, while improving natural habitats in the south of the site, including the regeneration and protection of existing woodlands, wetlands and grasslands.^[1]

Planning permission was applied for by Banks in January 2023.^[9] In April 2023, the project received the support of Anthony Sockett, a former councillor and Civic Mayor of Doncaster.^[11] In October 2023, the project was sold to West Burton Energy,^[12][13][14] under its subsidiary, T-Power,^[15] with funding from EIG.^[16] In October 2024, T-Power was launched by EIG as Fidra Energy,^[17][18] which took full control of the Thorpe Marsh project. The following month, Fidra secured an agreement with Sungrow, a leading Chinese manufacturer in renewables, to be supplied with their 5 MWh (18 GJ) liquid-cooled PowerTitan 2.0 BESS units.^[19][20][21] In September 2025, Fidra also received financial backing from the National Wealth Fund, bringing its total with EIG investment up to £445 million, plus additional loans of £594 million from international lenders.^[22]

Planning permission was granted to Fidra in January 2025^[23] and construction began in July of the same year. The site is expected to enter commercial operation by the end of 2027.^[24]

• Thorpe Marsh Power Station
• Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve