| Client | Arlington Energy |
|---|---|
| Turley office | Manchester |
| Status | Ongoing |
| LPA | Solihull Borough Council |
Contributing to national energy security
Our role
- We have submitted a full planning application for a battery energy storage system (BESS) with associated infrastructure and landscaping. The proposed development will allow the storage of electricity during periods of low consumer demand, releasing it to the network during periods of higher demand. In doing so it will help ‘balance the network’ and contribute to allowing the utilisation of energy generated from renewable sources to be maximised. Presently, generators of renewable energy can be asked to curtail production at times when there is insufficient capacity within the network to receive electricity.
- Our Planning team co-ordinated the preparation of the planning application and in doing so providing specialist inputs across a range of our services. Our Landscape Design and Landscape Visual Impact Assessment teams worked closely together to guide the iterative design process to ensure that effects to landscape character / visual amenity and nearby heritage assets are minimised. Our Planning team prepared the Very Special Circumstances (VSC) case necessary to justify development in the Green Belt.
- Our role also includes liaison and negotiation with the Local Planning Authority.
Results
- The VSC include the contribution which the development would make to meeting the need for BESS and the decarbonisation of the economy, the absence of sites located outside the Green Belt which can accommodate the proposed development, and the temporary and reversible nature of the proposals.
- The national need for BESS storage projects is comprehensively expressed within a wide range of Governmental policy documents and strategies as well as those produced by other organisations such as National Grid. They are considered an essential component in the strategy to meet climate change objectives, reducing the costs of electricity and in increasing levels of national energy security. The proposed BESS scheme is designed to store 98MW within the batteries on a 2-hour system and will contribute to the realisation of these national strategic objectives.