Battery units plan submitted
Official application for compound in
Wide- ranging plans for a major energy storage facility near Braco have been officially lodged.
Whirlwind Energy Storage Ltd has applied to Perth and Kinross Council for permission to create a 49.99-megawatt compound on land at Shindour in Feddal Hill Wood.
Should it find favour with the local authority, the plans state the mooted development would include up to 50 battery storage units, as well as ancillary buildings and equipment.
Part of a project known as Braco West, the Leeds-based firm’s application is also seeking the green light to carry out the necessary bogland restoration, landscaping and other associated work.
The site – which is located 3.5 kilometres west of Braco and 6.7km north of Dunblane – was previously planted with Sitka spruce trees which were felled around 10 years ago as part of Scottish and Southern Energy’s work on the adjacent electricity substation and pylon lines.
A design statement lodged alongside the application states: “The proposed energy storage facility would accommodate up to 50 battery storage units housed within containers, along with ancillary containers and structures ...”
It continues: “It is envisaged that the battery units would be based on steel shipping containers.
“The site would be surrounded by bunding and landscaping consisting of native trees along with an inner security fence.
“Appropriate deer fencing would be installed, if necessary, during the establishment of the landscaping.
“An area to the north of the site would be restored as bog habitat.”
The document goes on to add: “The proposed energy storage facility would provide rapid response electrical back-up to the electricity grid and would represent the deployment of a high-tech grid balancing facility, of a type which is already seeing significant deployment throughout the UK, and in the USA, Australia and other parts of the world.
“It would also provide employment opportunities through its construction, operation and ongoing maintenance.
“The proposal would not generate electrical power and, as such, does not represent a form of electrical generation infrastructure.
“Rather it would draw electrical power from the electricity grid and then store this and release it back on to the grid as required.”
The land earmarked for the proposal, which is part of a commercial forest, is managed by the firm Tilhill on behalf of two woodland trusts.
In advance of the application being submitted, Whirlwind Energy Storage Ltd carried out a number of consultation activities in relation to the potential development.
A pre- application report submitted alongside the main indicative document states: “This has included contacting neighbouring residents and businesses, the community council, the elected representatives of the host and neighbouring wards, the MP and MSP, newspaper advertisement and an online public consultation event.
“No submissions or representations have been made to the developer by any members of the public or other consultees.”
A similar scheme, known as the Feddal Hill Energy Storage Project, received planning consent in December, 2021, and is to have an installed capacity of 49.99MW once operational.
The latest planning document states that the two projects would be “operationally and physically independent”, with separate connections to the grid, should Braco West be given the go-ahead.
The application will be considered by council planners in due course.