Battery storage site approved for Chickerell despite objections
Concerns have been raised over fire risks there
One of the world’s biggest battery storage facilities has been approved for the outskirts of Weymouth.
The site, at Chickerell, had faced widespread local opposition.
The 600 battery units containing 2.5million lithium ion cells would be capable of holding 400MW of power and feeding it back into the National Grid at times of need.
Councillors voted 6-2 in favour of the scheme after a three-hour presentation and debate on Monday (29th July).
The biggest public concern has been the risk of fire and a toxic plume which could spread from the farmland site at Chickerell over the area, including neighbouring Weymouth, in the event of a disaster.
But despite local fears, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service had not objected to the plans and neither had the Environment Agency.
The application is a revised version of an initial proposal with changes to the layout of the site, access and fire-fighting systems.
Measures in place are to include four big water containers to help fight any fires – although the company behind the application say each of the 600 seperate units will be self-contained with its own independent monitoring and fire-suppression measures – capable of being shut down remotely, or locally.
The UK has only seen one battery storage site fire, at Liverpool, although there are said to have been around 40 around the world, some leading to loss of life.
Founding director of Statera, Andrew Troup, told Monday’s Dorset Council planning committee that if the UK wanted to achieve net zero carbon targets it would have to build more battery storage facilities.
Advisor to the company, David Etheridge, a former Oxfordshire chief fire officer, said each unit of the site would comply to the highest international standards and was designed to stop fire spreading, should one break out, the units also containing any water used to fight a fire.
The site, at East Chickerell Court Farm, stretches from Coldharbour to the golf driving range next to the Weymouth FC ground – with 100,000 people likely to be living nearby in the summer months, more than 53,000 for the rest of the year.
The current farm fields, running off Coldharbour, are adjacent to an existing solar farm and is designated as a site of Local Landscape Importance, providing a green ‘wedge’ between developed areas.
The nearest buildings are 400m away although there are proposals for 400 extra homes in the area.
Developer Statera Energy claim the development will provide local people more than 16 hectares of parkland and new footpaths on previously inaccessible land as a ‘biodiversity gain':
“There is no question that these developments are in the national – and global – interest,” said a Statera spokesman in a planning document.
The company says the site has been chosen because it is adjacent to an electric sub-station allowing direct access to the National Grid, one of only three with capacity in Dorset, with an agreement in place to connect in 2027.
Among the objectors at Monday’s planning committee was Rupert Hardy from the Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England who told the committee: ” If safety cannot absolutely be assured, and it patently can’t be with battery storage systems, this must not be built in this location. To do so would be utterly irresponsible,” he said.
Chickerell ward councillor Gill Taylor, also speaking for fellow ward councillor Simon Clifford, said over weeks of campaigning in the area neither had come across a single person who were in favour of the development:
“People do not want this close to their homes; they are worried about safety issues, they are not convinced about the environmental benefits and they have taken a strong view against the planning application,” she said.
Others told the committee that the battery storage system was not as ‘green’ as had been claimed, losing between 10 and 20 per cent of the energy in the round trip of charging and discharging to and from the Grid.
Dr John Fannon from Buckland Ripers, who holds a doctorate in nuclear physics, said it was agreed that all battery storage systems were likely to have at least one fire during their lifetime. He said, logically, the Chickerell facility being bigger and expected to be in place for up to 40 years, was likely to have more than one fire.
“Without warning, just one of two of the 2.5million cells in this BESS sould suffer a short circuit and burst into flames with thermal runaway, toxic gas and a possible explosion,” he said.
He said each of the 600 cabinets proposed for the site had an explosive equivalent of 4 tonnes of TNT.
Another objector, Mr John Perrott, told councillors: “If you are going to build a BESS with its inherent risk of fire, explosion and toxic plume you don’t build it close to housing when alternative sites are available…
“The applicants will tell you that it’s perfectly safe, but a simple web search will tell you that it’s not.. there are no regulations, no health and safety rules, nothing.. the applicants can build what they want.. and who on the Council is qualified to police and enforce it?”