Point and Sandwick Development has applied for planning permission to construct a
compact battery energy storage facility in Stornoway.
The development would allow island wind turbines to keep generating during any outages
of the subsea cable. It would also reduce emissions pumped out from the neighbouring
diesel-fuelled power station during outages.
The 25 MW plant comprising of six banks of battery units would be sited on vacant
land in front of the SSE power station, at what is aptly called The Battery, at Newton.
The area was used as an artillery emplacement from the 18th to the 20th century,
hence the name Battery Point.
“Now, in the 21st century, it is a fitting location for the island's first grid-scale
battery energy storage system,” highlights the Greenspace Agency on behalf of the
trust.
The 25MW facility would be built off the access road to Goat Island, between the
main road at Newton and the coastguard station.
In addition to the battery banks, a high voltage electricity substation plus associated
infrastructure such as three inverters and six transformers would be required.
Electricity from the transformers would be transmitted to the proposed substation
and exported into Scottish and Southern Electricity’s Network’s distribution power
grid.
A welfare unit and storage container for parts would also be based at the site which
will be named the Battery Point Energy Storage Park.
A four metre high acoustic barrier is proposed to cut down any noise while a three
metre high palisade fencing and gates would surround the compound.
The battery project will be owned by Point and Sandwick Development, and will be
independent of the neighbouring SSE power station.
The developer says a major benefit is mitigating the type of problems which occurred
on the local grid for 11 months after the subsea cable was severely damaged and out
of commission in 2020.
That incident required the Stornoway diesel power station to maintain supplies for
nearly a year with pollution and carbon emissions rocketing.
“Unfortunately, not only did this result in less renewable energy being produced,
but it also substantially increased the volumes of polluting gases being emitted
to the atmosphere,” planners are told.
Community wind farms lost millions of pounds in income as a result of the broken
link.
Even without the major outage, shorter outages are regularly scheduled by SSE to
carrying out grid maintenance works, which requires all Lewis and Harris wind farms
to switch off, losing money to community operators.
“The proposed battery project at Battery Point will help stabilise the electricity
supply for Lewis and Harris, increase the production of renewable electricity on
the island, and increase the extent to which island produced renewable electricity
can be consumed locally.
“All profit from the operation of the battery will be reinvested in the islands by
the Point and Sandwick Trust,” said the Greenspan Agency.
The trust will also build ten additional car parking spaces for HM Coastguard at
the neighbouring coastguard station to help accommodate personnel vehicles at busy
times, particularly when responding to significant incidents.
The proposed development will be unstaffed during the operational phase, except for
occasional site maintenance visits.
The battery installation will be able to deliver, for periods of up to two hours,
as much electricity as the neighbouring, far larger, diesel power station.
The proposed development will have a direct connection to the local electricity grid
and will be able to store energy produced on the island, as well as electricity imported
from the mainland. Similarly, it will be able to discharge to the local grid, providing
energy for homes and businesses on the island of Lewis and export to the mainland
says the developer.
Planning permission sought to build community owned energy storage facility at Battery
Point
6 May 2024
The proposed battery facility would be sited off Newton Street within the red coloured
outline