Renewable energy company Apatura has received planning consent for a new grid-scale 50MW / 100MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Scotland.
The facility will be built near the town of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire.
The five-and-a-half acre site is the ninth BESS development that Apatura has secured planning permission for in the last 16 months, bringing its portfolio to over 1.5GW.
The BESS will connect to the local East Kilbride substation. It will collect, store and discharge renewable energy onto the grid for use across the entire UK.
The site will consist of 16 battery container units plus associated infrastructure, including transformers and a substation building.
The development will be screened from all directions with native planting and will be operational for a period of 40 years, after which time the land will be restored to its original condition.
The decision notice granting planning permission concluded that “there would be no significant long-term impacts on the environmental quality of the green belt”, and that the project would “make a contribution towards tackling climate change, mitigation and adaptation, and would be a positive response to the global climate emergency and nature crisis”.
The site was also recognised as delivering “a net economic gain and community benefits, including local employment and supply chain opportunities”.
Apatura’s chief development officer Andrew Philpott said: “Battery storage facilities like our planned development at East Kilbride underpin the ongoing expansion of the UK’s renewable energy generation capability.
“They make a significant contribution to enhancing UK grid security and grid stability and are integral to enabling our country to decarbonise its energy system and its economy and achieve its net zero targets.”
Philpott added that construction of the project will provide “a significant boost” to the local East Kilbride economy.
“It will directly create jobs with the construction, operational, and decommissioning phases of the project, and also indirectly in the supply chain and related services,” he said.
Last week, Apatura secured planning permission for a 40MW / 80MWh BESS in the village of Eaglesham in the county of East Renfrewshire, 10 miles from East Kilbride.