Online forum for battery bid
Storage plan near children’s play site
A company intent on building a new energy storage facility near a children’s activity centre in Perth is inviting the public to ask questions about the proposal during an online event later this week.
Whirlwind Renewables notified Perth and Kinross Council of its ambition to position around 50 battery storage units on land behind Noah’s over the Old Gallows Road last month.
An agent acting for the company, Dan Grierson of The Energy Workshop, has now arranged an online consultation event this coming Thursday during which members of the public will be able to contact him directly and ask any questions they might have about the proposal.
Whirlwind Renewables said in a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) sent to PKC: “The proposed energy storage facility would accommodate up to 50 battery storage units housed within containers along with ancillary structures including transformers and switchgear.
“It is envisaged that the battery units would be based on steel shipping containers.
“The site would be surrounded by screening landscaping consisting of native trees along with an acoustic fence, with appropriate deer fencing being installed, if necessary, during the establishment of the landscaping.
“The proposed energy storage facility would provide rapid response electrical back-up to the electricity grid and would represent an early deployment within Scotland of a high-tech grid balancing facility of a type which is already seeing significant deployment in the UK, USA, Australia and other parts of the world.
“It would also provide employment opportunities through the construction, operation and maintenance of the project.”
The scheme is the second of its kind to be proposed on a site over the Old Gallows Road on the west side of Perth this year. Hamilton-based Intelligent Land Investment Group sent PKC a PAN for a battery system energy storage facility on land north of Noah’s Ark Caravan Park back in July.
Councillors questioned how quickly and easily emergency vehicles would be able to access the site if fire crews or medical teams had to get there in a hurry when they considered the earlier PAN at a planning committee meeting in September.
Almond and Earn councillor Henry Anderson remarked at the time: “I don’t want to be alarmist but battery storage ... can be quite unstable and if there was a fire or any other emergency there, it would be quite hard for emergency vehicles to get there.”
The online consultation event concerning Whirlwind Renewables’ proposal is being held this Thursday from 2pm to 7pm. Anyone who wishes to take part can do so by copying the following code into their internet browser https:// us02web.zoom.us/j/2272520580 then following the on-screen instructions.