Plans lodged for battery storage scheme in Caithness

Plans for a large-scale battery storage plan on a Caithness site have progressed, with the submission of a full planning application.

Potencia Energy Limited hopes to build the facility on a six-hectare field just south of Mybster Inn Farm, in Spittal, near Thurso, to store power from nearby wind farms.

The company submitted a planning application notice – simply notifying the council of its intention to submit a full planning application – in April.

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Submission of a full planning application represents a move forward with the plans.

Potencia Energy wants to install a series of battery storage units, taking up a site area of around 2.37 hectares. Together, these units have potential to store 47MWh of energy.

The company will link the battery units to Mybster grid supply point via an underground cable.

The development lies close to nearby wind farms including Bad a Cheo, Achlachan and Halsary.

Potencia Energy’s website says battery storage is the key to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy. Since wind farm energy production is unpredictable, battery units can store the energy and release it back to the grid as needed.

The planning application includes battery storage containers accompanied by transformers and switch room, site access from the A9, landscaping and fencing.

In a design and access statement submitted alongside the planning application the company says: "The facility will import and store electricity from the grid during periods of excess genera(on and then export back to the grid in periods of potenial shortfall.

"It does not generate electricity. This contributes to overall decarbonisa(on by reducing the degree to which renewable energy needs to be turned off in periods of high generation when importing power and reducing the need for fossil fuel sourced power when it is exporting back to the grid."

It adds: "The proposal is to deliver a battery storage facility having a maximum storage capacity of 47MW.

"The equipment to provide this consists of an array of twelve battery terraces, feeding inverters located in an acoustically treated building.

"The inverters are linked to transformers which lead to a switch-room, in turn linked to the Mybster Gris Supply Point (GSP) via a new 33KV cable, routed down the existing access track to the substation which runs adjacent to the application site."

"The battery storage equipment will be sited on a compacted hardcore compound, enclosed on three sides by a dark green 4m high acoustic fence."

In terms of the site chosen for the proposed development it states: "A key factor in the locating of such a facility is the ability to secure a point of connection to the grid adequate to support the required level of import and export of electricity.

"This facility has already secured such a point of connection at the nearby Mybster GSP.

"This site is also considered suitable because it does not lie in an area subject to any local landscape or ecological designations.

"Whilst accessed directly from the A9, the equipment can be set a considerable distance away from the road (in excess of 100m) and the neighbouring residential proper(es (in excess of 135m).

"It is considered that this distance, reinforced with new tree planting, bunding and acoustic perimeter fencing will minimise the impact on the receptors and the surrounding area."

It adds: "The proposed development will help address a na(onal need for energy storage and is viable and deliverable, thanks to its relatively near point of connection at Mybster GSP.

"It assists with the decarbonisation of the electricity grid by utilising the periods of overgeneration of electricity by renewable sources and minimising the requirement for generation by carbon-based sources at other times.

"It is anticipated that the proposed facility will have an anticipated lifespan of a minimum of 50 years."

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