UK developer Banks Renewables is seeking planning permission to install a 1MW battery with the 18MW Hazlehead wind farm in Yorkshire.
The £700,000 (€786,000) 1MW/1.5 megawatt-hour energy storage system has already won the support of the Hazlehead wind farm’s community liaison committee and the developer has submitted plans for the scheme to Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
Banks Renewables aims to have the battery installed and operational later this year.
Hazlehead wind farm is located west of Barnsley between the villages of Crow Edge and Carlecotes.
The battery will be able to store some of the electricity generated by the three-turbine wind farm, as well as energy from the UK power grid, to release at periods of higher demand and prices.
Dunford Parish Councillor and Hazlehead wind farm community liaison community chair Allan Pestell said: “I am delighted to support this application with the full backing of the members of the liaison committee.
“The battery housing will be lost in the vegetation and it will have a zero impact on the local environment.”
Banks Group technical managed Mark Rowcroft added: “The capacity within the connection to the electricity network that we already have at the Hazlehead wind farm provides an opportunity to co-locate electricity storage with generation and maximises the value of that infrastructure while reducing operational costs and electricity transmission losses.
“Energy storage systems such as this bring resilience and flexibility to the power network, allowing more renewable generation onto the National Grid in line with our Net Zero 2050 ambitions and ultimately leads to reduced costs to the consumer.
“We hope the members of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council’s planning committee will see the merits of this innovative scheme and that we will be soon able to get on with the work required to bring it online later this year.”
Banks Renewables currently operates 10 wind farms with an installed capacity of 224MW, including the six-turbine Penny Hill wind farm.
The company said it is looking at installing batteries with its other wind farms in northern England and Scotland.


