Battery storage facility planned for Chickerell
It would store excess electricity for the National Grid
A site to the west of Weymouth could be used for a battery storage facility to back up the National Grid.
If approved power would be fed into the batteries at times when excess electricity is being produced and then fed back into the grid when demand increases.
The site being investigated by Statera Energy Ltd is just north of the existing Chickerell substation, directly south of Coldharbour.
If successful it could see up to 480 modified 12metre shipping containers used to accommodate the batteries with 30 inverters and outdoor transformers – all enclosed by a 3m tall security fence.
A link would go, via underground cable, to the Chickerell substation.
The facility is expected to be controlled remotely with only infrequent visits for maintenance and repairs.
The company behind the proposal claims that there would be a net biodiversity gain at the site because they propose additional planting of trees and hedgerows, including a community orchard, to shield the site from view.
Kay Kelsall is from The Chickerell Action Group, who are campaigning against the proposal.
She said: We are absolutely supportive of all forms of renewable energy. We understand what they do and why they are important in our renewable energy future but we think we just need to be careful about where we put them.
Water from the site would cascade into a series of ponds with at least one new public path proposed through the area.
Between nine months and a year is likely to be needed to construct the storage area with building work limited to 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.
The site is almost 3km outside the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty although the site and immediate area is within an Area of Local Landscape Importance and is also designated a Locally Valued Landscape.
At this stage there is no planning application for the site and the energy company is only asking for an opinion from Dorset Council on whether or not a full Environmental Impact Assessment would need to be drawn up and submitted with any subsequent planning request.
Dorset already has several battery storage facilities under construction or in the process of gaining planning consent – on the Dorset-Devon border and just outside Shaftesbury.
A similar, but smaller scheme, is also being proposed at West Moors, close to the Mannington electricity sub-station, which the Council has decided, does not need an Environmental Impact Assessment.