A plan to construct one of many largest battery arrays in Europe to assist deliver extra renewables on-line might reportedly be on the mercy of the 400-strong membership of a Scottish golf membership.
British renewables developer Apatura Power needs to construct the massive battery facility exterior of Glasgow to assist retailer extra power from wind and photo voltaic farms.
At 560MW/1120MWh, the battery power storage system would dwarf a 99MW/198MWh Tesla system turned on in England final yr that was claimed to be the most important in Europe.
It might even be among the many largest deliberate batteries anyplace on the continent, exceeding a 500MW/1,000MWh facility additionally beneath growth in Scotland, though the nation does even have a 1GW battery system within the pipeline.
Nevertheless, ought to the mission get the go-ahead from the Scottish authorities, it might discover itself depending on approval by the 400 voting members of the Clydebank and District Golf Membership, in line with a report on Thursday in The Clydebank Put up.
Golf membership president Stephen Welsh is quoted as saying that if Apatura “efficiently secured the permissions they require they usually wish to go forward, we’re then in a state of affairs the place now we have to undergo our due course of.”
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The golf membership members “will determine whether or not to agree or disagree with leasing the land” that Apatura needs to construct on, he mentioned.
An Apatura spokesperson advised Recharge: “As a result of present authorized place, Apatura are unable to supply touch upon any discussions relating to the lease the land.”
The mission has additionally come up towards native opposition, with a marketing campaign group referred to as ‘Save Our Countryside – Cochno Street’ rising to over 600 members on Fb.
Members of the group have claimed that the battery array – initially slated to be unfold over 29 hectares – could be “harmful” in addition to occupying land that’s the dwelling of a “sacred druid stone”.
The Apatura spokesperson confirmed that the developer has now diminished the mission’s “growth footprint”, with the world of the battery system and related infrastructure shrunk to eight.5 hectares.
This has not affected the storage capability of the mission, they added.
The spokesperson mentioned that impartial specialists have submitted value determinations in assist of the mission regarding its potential impacts on the native atmosphere and historic or archaeological options.
Battery security measures have additionally been thought-about to mitigate “potential hazards” of such a system, they mentioned.
The security of lithium-ion battery methods is an more and more contentious subject, with native communities typically afraid of the hard-to-extinguish fires that may generally get away in addition to ensuing poisonous fumes.
Trade specialists have additionally raised issues about fires, though many say that fears are unfounded and the overwhelming majority of utility-scale battery methods function with out incident.
The Apatura proposals will now be thought-about by Scotland’s Power Consents Unit and native planning authorities.
Clydebank and District Golf Membership was approached for remark.
