What happened

Mitie Power & Grid and Revera Energy have broken ground on the Windyhill Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Bearsden, near Glasgow, the energy and construction press reported this month. The first phase will deliver 200MW/400MWh of storage capacity, enough to power around 55,000 homes for two hours, with a second phase of equal size already planned. Once complete, expected in early 2028, Windyhill is set to be one of Scotland's largest battery storage facilities.

Under the delivery split, Revera Energy, an independent energy infrastructure business backed by Carlyle, is providing the battery storage system itself, while Mitie Power & Grid is leading design and construction of the 132kV grid connection along with the civil and electrical balance of plant works. Industry coverage noted Windyhill is the first asset out of the ground in a wider 2GWh Scottish BESS portfolio Revera is developing, meaning this groundbreaking is a starting gun rather than a one-off.

Why it matters

Battery storage is becoming a genuine construction sub-sector in its own right, not a footnote to renewables. Windyhill needs the same disciplines as any civils and electrical infrastructure job: groundworks, cable installation, substation and grid connection works, project and site management, all compressed into a shorter build cycle than a hospital or a school. With a 2GWh portfolio behind this first phase, Revera and its delivery partners will be replicating this build, and this recruitment, at further Scottish sites over the next few years.

It also lands at a moment when Scotland's civils and utilities pipeline is thin. Recent Glenigan data pointed to steeper regional variation in project starts across the UK, and grid-scale battery storage is one of the areas bucking that pattern as network operators race to firm up renewable capacity.

What it means for careers and hiring

Mitie has said the Windyhill build itself will support around 60 jobs during construction, covering civil engineering, electrical installation and site management, based in Bearsden and the wider Glasgow area. That is a modest number for a single site, but it is the shape of the opportunity that matters here: BESS schemes are shorter, more technically specific builds than a typical civils contract, and a 2GWh portfolio behind this one means repeat work for anyone who can show grid connection or high-voltage substation experience on their CV.

For site managers, electrical engineers and civils-focused QSs in Scotland, this is worth tracking as a sector rather than a single vacancy. Mitie Power & Grid and Revera Energy will both need to scale delivery teams as further phases and further sites in the portfolio move to construction, and early experience on Windyhill is a credible marker for the next battery storage scheme that comes to tender, in Scotland or further south as the same model rolls out across the UK grid.