Corby 'battery box' gets go ahead for site in Tower Hill Road
Planners have given the nod to a micro energy storage facility in Corby.
Applicants Amp Clean Energy, a sustainable energy firm owned by UK investment funds, had asked North Northamptonshire Council for permission to install the battery box on the verge at the top of Tower Hill Road.
The box, which is the size of about two car parking spaces, will slot in behind an existing electricity sub-station.
It is designed to import electricity from the local network when demand for electricity is low or when there are high levels of renewable energy available. It then exports that electricity back to the grid when required during periods of high demand.
Planning documents say this provides a ‘solution to the growing need for network flexibility and helps address grid reliability issues prompted by an increase of intermittent (wind and solar) generation of the electricity system.’
The firm is developing up to 1,250 battery boxes in the UK over the next three years and says it has already received planning consent for 130 identical schemes across the country. Most have been through the planning process with no issues, but some have been refused because of proximity to schools or other key sites.
AMP’s planning statement to NNC says: “The UK’s electricity system was traditionally dominated by a small number of large power stations fuelled by fossil fuel (namely coal and natural gas). However, the system is now becoming increasingly supplied by intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
"Renewable power generation does not always match when the demand for electricity is highest. To overcome this, we need a more flexible energy system that allows us to shift renewable energy to the periods of the day when the demand for power is at its greatest. And as the UK builds more and more renewable projects, increasingly there are times when the amount of renewable electricity on the system is greater than the demand for it.”
There were no objections to the Corby scheme from any local residents. Officers have now given the scheme the go-ahead, with a police consultee advising that the facility is bolted to the ground with tamper-proof bolts.