TO BE PUBLISHED December 2025
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This conference will examine the direction of policy and development for the UK battery sector, with a focus on enhanced energy resilience and electrification.
It will bring together key stakeholders and policymakers to discuss priorities set out in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, which identifies batteries as a strategic subsector, alongside the accompanying funding and policy commitments in the Spending Review. Attendees will assess implications of these measures for domestic capacity, investment decisions, and commercial growth, as well as the industrial application of research.
With the Policy Commission on Gigafactories launched in June 2025, discussion will look ahead to how the UK can scale-up battery manufacturing capacity, priorities for the UK Battery Strategy Taskforce, and the impact of initiatives such as the Battery Innovation Programme and the British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital Fund on innovation, scale-up, and supply chain development.
Further planned sessions will address persistent challenges to competitiveness and investor confidence - such as high energy costs and access to finance - and their influence on appetite for UK-based development and project viability. Delegates will also consider implications of tightening international standards, including the EU Batteries Regulation, and potential consequences for trade, market access, and long-term positioning if UK regulatory processes do not keep pace, particularly in areas such as battery reuse, disposal, and recycling ahead of the Circular Economy Strategy.
In the context of frameworks such as the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and the forthcoming Low Carbon Flexibility Roadmap, discussion will examine wider impacts of policy choices on regional industrial growth, system flexibility, and circular infrastructure. Attendees will consider what will be needed to strengthen investment confidence, develop the workforce, and enable the sector to contribute to long-term competitiveness and industrial resilience in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
With the agenda currently in the drafting stage, overall areas for discussion include:
- industrial strategy and public funding:
- implications of the Sector Plan, Spending Review and Competitiveness Scheme
- impact on investor confidence, site development, and public-private coordination
- translation and commercialisation of research: role of the Innovation Programme and Strategy Taskforce - links from scientific advances to commercial applications and economic productivity
- capital access and firm growth: the Growth Capital Fund - options for crowding in private finance and scaling up new entrants
- gigafactory pipeline and regional development: the work of the Policy Commission on Gigafactories - implications for projects - effects on jobs, supply chain clustering, and investor appetite
- upstream resilience and critical minerals: progress under DRIVE35 and the UK Critical Minerals Strategy - importance of diversified sourcing and processing for long-term security of supply
- regulation and global alignment: the EU Batteries Regulation - implications for competitiveness, export viability, and compliance costs if domestic regulation diverges
- battery lifecycle and reuse: pressures to expand second-life use, recycling, and recovery infrastructure - effects on logistics systems, waste regulation, and environmental outcomes
- demand signals and EV uptake: impact of the new EV purchase grant - support for domestic demand alongside international competitiveness and subsidy design
- power system and energy security: relevance of battery storage to decarbonisation and system flexibility - role in peak demand management, grid integration, and resilience
- workforce and place-based interventions: regional education and training needs - interaction with manufacturing clusters, infrastructure priorities, and local economic plans
