North Yorkshire is set to be at the centre of a major £10bn project to create 20 cent of ther country’s renewable energy storage requirements.
Plans are being drawn up for two 1GW battery energy storage systems (BESS) on farmland in the county.
A consultation will be launched today (FRI) for the latest scheme to be announced by green energy company NatPower on land near East Rounton, between Northallerton and Yarm.
As well as a BESS plant, the Mowbray scheme would include a transmission connected substation.
Details of a similar proposal for a 1GW plant on 173 acres of farmland at South Kilvington, Thirsk, known as the Bellmoor project, have already been published.
Both projects are at their early stages with public consultations taking place before formal planning applications are submitted to North Yorkshire Council.
A BESS proposal for the Teesworks freeport site on Teesside is more advanced, with plans expected to be submitted to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council shortly.
In total, London-based NatPower, which described itself as a clean energy enabler, is aiming to build 13 so-called ‘gigaparks’ across the country in coming years.
The battery plants store electricity from the grid at times of lower demand and release it back to the grid when it is needed most.
NatPower says they make an “essential contribution to ensuring reliable, secure and affordable electricity for the country as it moves away from using coal and gas for electricity generation”.
A company spokesperson added: “We are making a meaningful contribution to the UK’s need for clean, secure and affordable energy.
“By delivering more than 60GWh of energy storage across the country, we are aiming to provide 20 per cent of the energy storage requirement of the UK by 2040.
“We are also bringing forward wind and solar farms in different places to contribute cleaner energy for the UK.”
The plans are already proving controversial, however, with a campaign group formed to fight the Bellmoor proposal, despite the developers promising that 115 acres of the 173-acres site would continue to be farmed and transformed into a new nature reserve.
Thirsk Against Battery Storage (TABS) says it has serious concerns about the suitability of the proposed location on open farmland and has called for the facility to be built on a brownfield site.
South Kilvington resident Philip Martin, one of the founders of TABS, added: “This is very tranquil, very beautiful place and what they’re proposing is industrialisation of the countryside.”
Mr Martin said press releases on the NatPower website suggest the battery storage plants are just enabling facilities and they would lead to further plans being submitted for giant solar farms in the areas.
Speaking about the Bellmoor scheme, North Yorkshire Council’s Thirsk councillor, Gareth Dadd, said he thought it was a joke when he first heard about the proposal.
“If it comes to fruition in the hinterland of rural North Yorkshire I will take a lot of convincing that the candy is worth the gain,” he added.
A consultation on the Mowbray plans starts with an event at Rountons Village Hall, at East Rounton, tomorrow from 3pm to 7pm.
The consultation is due to run until December 13.
Visit www.natpower.uk for more information.
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