Battery energy storage site turned down to save countryside

A battery energy storage facility on land near Holsworthy the size of 10 football fields won’t be going ahead, at least for now.

Torridge councillors prefer instead to protect the green fields and farmland at Pyworthy, west of the town.

The district council’s plans committee was concerned by the cumulative effect  on the landscape of what would be the seventeenth renewable energy project within a five mile radius.

They voted against planning officers’ advice, despite being told that the application was likely to be approved if it went to appeal.

Six members of the public had opposed the plan by RES Ltd, with councillors sharing their concerns about fire safety.

Cllr Kit Hepple (Ind, Milton and Tamarside) said the site was “huge’”- it could accommodate more than 120 properties –  and the development posed a danger if fire broke out.

Only the developers and one landowner would benefit, rather than the community, and that authorities should be considering smaller applications of this nature where many farmers could benefit, with less impact on the countryside.

The battery energy storage system or BESS would be sandwiched between two of six solar farms in the area.

Battery storage enables energy from renewable sources, like solar and wind, to be sold to the national grid. Councillors heard that they are a key part in helping the country reach net-zero.

But Cllr Doug Smith (Lib Dem, Great Torrington) said they are better suited to brownfield sites “of which there are plenty up and down the country.”

He claimed such technology is a stop gap as in a few years there would be power lines coming into the country from all over the world to create “a worldwide grid,” rather than a national one.

“We will be able to balance our power much better then, ” he suggested.

“This is high-tech at the moment, but it doesn’t last forever. We are losing a lot of our beauty for something which is a stop-gap and of no benefit to us.”

Cllr Doug Bushby (Ind, Bideford North) said putting a battery storage system on a brownfield site that was close to urban development was probably considered “undesirable” and might be “frowned upon”.

Planning officers agreed and said on attractiveness and safety grounds they were not considered appropriate in built up areas. Fields with pylons, solar farms and sub stations are deemed more suitable.

Planning manager Helen Smith said she only knew of one application which had failed on appeal because of its impact on the countryside.

RES proposed planting a hedgerow to screen the site, with more planting if required and said there would be a gain in biodiversity.

It said all its sites are monitored 24 hours a day from a control centre. Individual battery racks or the entire system would be shut down if battery cells strayed outside optimum heat levels.

Cllr Rosemary Lock supported the scheme because there were no objections from Pyworthy Parish Council, Natural England, the Environment Agency, highways department or the fire service.

Councillors were told that a detailed fire safety management plan would need to be agreed by the council, incorporating a risk reduction strategy covering construction and decommissioning phases of the project.

BESS sites have to be decommissioned and returned to their original state after 40 years.

The planning committee refused the application by six votes to two.

According to the government website there has been one incident of a BESS fire in the UK when battery system containers in Liverpool caught fire in 2020.