Over the last 3 years the possibility of a large new incoming power supply from France has been in the press. It has been known as ‘The Aquind Interconnector’ project and linked in the past to private investors and Oligarchs.
National Grid advise projects like this are required to solve our growing energy crisis with coal and gas power stations being shut down and too little progress being made on opening new facilities.
Locally if this is to proceed then the infrastructure at the Lovedean power station will grow considerably. Major infrastructure projects such as utilities and telecommunications can be very difficult to refuse planning permission for so we will need to see how this develops.
In the last week EHDC has received an EIA Screening application for the “proposed development of the installation of two energy storage systems with a total capacity of 49.95MW on land to the west of Broadway Lane, Lovedean”. This does not look like it is related to the Aquind project but a large capacity battery to help cope with peaks in power demand. It is however on an area of land 1Ha in size.
The application describes a total of 40 energy storage units. They typically look like these:
An EIA is ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ and a screening opinion is where the local authority are asked if they feel a full application would need an Environmental Impact Assessment or not with the application in order to consider it. Depending on the size and impact of the development it may or may not be required and there are criteria for this. More information on EIA Screening can be found HERE
This is not the submission of a planning application, but it is inevitable one will follow. mysteriously though, this is not an application by Aquind, it is a separate application for the infrastructure at the sub station and the EIA Screening information is on this link HERE
The proposed development comprises the installation of two energy storage systems with a total capacity of 49.95MW. This will include:
• 40 energy storage container units, built in 2 phases (20 containers per phase);
• A single 132kV substation compound, up to a height of 5.5m;
• Two customer substations, up to a height of 2.9m;
• One Distribution Network Operator (DNO) substation, up to a height of 3.4m;
• A 3.5m wide access track off Broadway Lane;
• A perimeter security fence, up to height of 2.1m; and
• Internal fencing to protect equipment, up to a height of 2.4m.
The applicant are Anesco Ltd and their website is http://anesco.co.uk/
You can also comment on the application
The proposed location is on the map below:
horndeanmatters 
Instead of taking up more countryside, could this application become part of the plans for the new development east of Horndean. It seems an obvious solution being integrated into an agreed plan.
Hi Bill, That’s a good question. About a year ago a private energy company looked at getting permission to install two diesel generators on land to the south of LEOH but this fell through. the objective was short term power generation to cope with peaks in demand. I’m guessing that the battery installation will take off peak energy, store it and then make it available every peak time to help spread the load (it is free energy as opposed to the generators which burned fuel). I don’t have enough details to know about how the two compared to size, why one would have worked at LEOH and if the 50MW proposed needs to be located next to the substation or if there are cables coming away from there that have this capacity instead. Ultimately the applicant is a private business making an arrangement with a private land owner and I suspect their cheapest installation is next to the Lovedean substation and Solar Farm. Best Wishes, Guy.
These units require a lot of cooling, particularly when they are under load conditions. Close scrutiny of the proposed cooling strategies will be necessary to ensure that the noise from whatever cooling plant used is fully mitigated, respecting the closeness of Broadway Cottages and the other adjacent properties.
Hi Steve, Fully agree. After the EIA screening I would expect a full application in later this year. questions we need answered then would include the following:
1 – what hours would the installation be operations (charging and discharging)
2 – what cooling equipment is installed and what hours would this run
3 – what is the noise level of the cooling equipment
4 – what is the attenuation that will be installed into the units and can it be installed on the side of the units facing away from the residential properties
5 – details on height and visual screening
If this is approved then we need to make sure the impact is minimal. Please feel free to add more onto this thread. Guy.