East Riding Council has approved plans for a large Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on a site the size of around four football pitches.
The application, that has now been approved by East Riding Council, sought to establish a BESS on land east of Staithes Road, located north of the Saltend Chemicals Park.
BESS’s are essentially places where excess energy produced by renewable sources can be stored. As the supply of energy generated by wind turbines and solar panels etc. does not perfectly align with demand, a BESS can be used to store energy which can be released on a day when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. The BESS can absorb or release energy as needed to keep up with the demands of the grid.
This BESS development sits on an area of land that is 2.7 hectares in size, around the size of four football pitches. Documents submitted to the council state that despite the site being 2.7 hectares, “the area of land utilised for the BESS development would be much smaller than the overall site area.”
The facility will consist of 45 modular battery units, 45 transformer and inverter units, and auxiliary transformer among other piece of equipment. The site would be surrounded by a 2.4 metre high security fence and would have seven pole mounted CCTV cameras for security.
To mitigate any visual concerns, the plans state that all units on the site would be painted dark green to help fit into their surroundings.
With the application having been approved by the council this month, developers will have to begin work on the site within three years, at which point the planning permission would expire.
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
