Electricity for thousands of homes could be stored near old power station site
A BUILDING for storing essential backup electricity for thousands of homes could be sited in Derbyshire.
With the rise in renewable energy is said to come an urgent need to create more backup facilities to store and then pump out power when the wind is not blowing and when it is dark.
These units are called battery energy storage systems and plans are afoot to build one capable of storing 80 megawatts of electricity in a field adjacent to the former Drakelow Power Station site.
An early application aiming to assess the environmental impact of the scheme – ahead of a full planning submission – has been put to South Derbyshire District Council.
In a document submitted with the plans, Lighthouse Development Consulting says the facility would be built on four acres of grazing land close to an area of woodland between Cauldwell Road and Walton Road.
The firm says the plans would provide an “essential component of the UK’S renewable energy infrastructure to meet net zero emissions”.
In a document submitted with the plans it said: “Solar and wind power from the wider electricity grid will be stored and released to optimise the use of renewable energy.
“The environmental impacts of the development proposal itself will be highly localised. Conversely the pro- posed development will make an impor- tant contribution to achieving legally binding national targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and national renewable energy targets.”
It quotes the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as saying the need for backup energy facilities to push through periods of high demand but scarce creation of new renewable energy “will be critical to maintaining energy security as we shift away from gas over the 2020s to 2030s”.
The firm says the Drakelow facility would include 70 battery containers, measuring 9.4 metres in length, 1.73 metres wide and 2.52 metres in height, which would remain on the site for 40 years – after which it would return to agricultural use.
It says “the proposal is for sufficient capacity to store around 80 megawatts of energy, allowing discharge of power for a period up to three hours”.
The firm says the proposed development would not have any negative visual impact on the surrounding area and that any noise generated would be negligible.
Plans for a solar farm generating 49.9 megawatts of electricity each year was said to be enough to power 11,500 homes a year.
While this is not directly comparable, the potential 80 megawatt electricity storage facility at Drakelow could in turn be capable of providing power for thousands of homes.
“Battery storage technologies are essential to speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy,” the National Grid says.
It says: “Battery storage systems will play an increasingly pivotal role between green energy supplies and responding to electricity demands.
“Battery storage, or battery energy storage systems (BESS), are devices that enable energy from renewables, like solar and wind, to be stored and then released when customers need power most.
“Battery storage technology has a key part to play in ensuring homes and businesses can be powered by green energy even when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind has stopped blowing.”
Plans have already been approved for a new waste-to-energy power station on the former Drakelow power plant site.
Vital Energi aims to generate 18 megawatts of electricity from nonrecyclable Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), such as domestic and business waste, and provide energy for 14,000 homes.
It is designed to divert waste from landfill and will be able to process 169,000 tonnes of RDF each year.
Meanwhile, plans are in their early stages for a 540-acre solar farm between Rosliston and Walton.
The planned Oaklands Solar Farm is expected to generate in the region of 160 megawatts of electricity a year, said to be enough to power 40,000 homes – nearly all the homes in South Derbyshire.
Its plan would also include an energy storage facility capable of storing 37.5 megawatts of electricity.
This would be sited 1.7 miles away from the planned Drakelow storage facility, in a small field off Catton Lane, Rosliston Road and Coton Road – in the centre of the proposed main solar farm development.
Battery storage technology has a key part to play in ensuring homes and businesses can be powered by green energy. National Grid