The operators who have built batteries hold almost no Gate 2
Matching the balancing mechanism lead party to the connection register applicant, on exact company name and nothing looser, finds 19 applicants that already operate a battery in the balancing mechanism today. They run 4,178 MW of live capacity between them. They hold 500 MW of Gate 2, and all of it sits at one applicant.
Eighteen of the nineteen companies that have proved they can finance, consent, build, energise and trade a battery in Great Britain are starting their next project from the back of the queue with no firm connection right.
Why the match is deliberately conservative
An operator trading through a different entity from the one that applied for the connection does not match and is not counted, so the figure is a floor rather than an estimate. An earlier version matched on shared words and paired BP Gas Marketing with Turbine Marketing SPV on the word marketing. That version was thrown away rather than tuned.
What a balancing mechanism registration proves
The connection register states a connected capacity but never says whether an asset is commercially live. A balancing mechanism registration is hard evidence that the asset exists, is energised, is metered and is settling. It is the only free published source that confirms delivery rather than intention.