Great Britain witnessed an unprecedented surge in renewable energy project approvals during 2025, with planning permissions nearly doubling compared to the previous year, new analysis reveals.

Data from Cornwall Insight shows that approved energy capacity across battery, wind, and solar developments reached 45GW in 2025, representing a 96% increase over 2024 figures.

Battery storage applications were the primary catalyst for this expansion, surging from 14.9GW in 2024 to 28.6GW this year, nearly doubling in scale. Meanwhile, offshore wind approvals experienced dramatic growth, skyrocketing more than sevenfold from 1.3GW last year to 9.9GW in 2025.

Over the last five years, planning permissions for battery, wind and solar installations have increased by over 400%.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband commented: "After years of delay and underinvestment, this government is keeping its promise to take back control of Britain's energy with clean homegrown power."

"Every project we approve, every investment we make is about getting the country off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets, protecting households and lowering bills for good."

Robin Clarke, a senior analyst at Cornwall Insight, noted that while the unprecedented increase in planning approvals demonstrates genuine progress in the UK's energy transition, numerous projects may still encounter operational delays.

"On paper, the UK's renewables pipeline has never looked stronger," he said. "But approvals don't generate electricity, and we urgently need to move from ambition to actual delivery of these projects. Too much capacity is still stuck in queues or waiting on grid upgrades. Grid bottlenecks remain one of the biggest risks to turning today's approvals into tomorrow's power."

Despite faster approval rates, Cornwall notes that actual project commissioning has not kept pace, primarily due to extended construction periods and grid connection holdups.

Numerous developments have remained trapped in a "first come, first served" connections queue, though recent regulatory changes eliminating "zombie projects" and implementing a "first ready, first needed, first connected" system are anticipated to resolve some obstacles and accelerate Britain's renewable energy expansion.

Earlier this month, Great Britain's energy system operator terminated hundreds of electricity generation projects to address a massive backlog that had prevented numerous "shovel-ready" developments from accessing the power grid.

Over half the queued energy projects will be eliminated to accommodate approximately £40bn worth of schemes deemed most capable of supporting the government's objective to establish a nearly zero-carbon power system by 2030.

The acceleration in Britain's renewables sector during 2025 may also reflect developers hastening to complete their projects ahead of stricter grid connection requirements and forthcoming local elections that could introduce uncertainty regarding future renewable energy planning regulations.

Clarke said: "The recent grid connection reforms are a significant step forward, and should help clear some of the backlog, but they won't solve everything. We need faster decisions, more investment in the grid, and real collaboration between government, regulators and industry. Without that, these record numbers risk becoming just another statistic."

Cornwall emphasized that the swift proliferation of renewable developments will require the UK to substantially strengthen and expand its electricity grid infrastructure.

"The current infrastructure was never designed for such high volumes of intermittent generation and storage, so investment in grid flexibility, transmission upgrades, and smart technologies will be critical to ensure these projects can deliver power where and when it's needed," it said.