Major battery storage facility site being lined up for Cairngorms National Park
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Plans are being lined up for a major battery storage facility on the doorstep of Boat of Garten but there are already concerns that it could impact on the River Spey.
The proposed development by Whirlwind Energy Storage Ltd comprises a compound containing up to 50 energy storage containers, an electrical control building, transformers, switchgear and access on land by the village's substation.
The technology is used for storing electric charge in specially developed batteries so that this can be utilised at a later time and is becoming more prevalent because of the increase in the number and capacity of renewable energy schemes.
The Cairngorms National Park Authority is being consulted on Proposal of Application Notification (PAN) made recently to Highland Council which is a statutory requirement for all major planning applications.
Updating CNPA planning committee members on Friday, planning officer Katie Crerar said: "There is the potential for environmental impact in proximity to the River Spey.
"There is a high risk of run-off from the proposed development into a water body which runs directly into the River Spey.
"A Habitat Regulations Appraisal would likely be required. There is also a need to protect the existing trees which would require a Tree Protection Plan."
Ms Crerar said that screening and landscaping would also be required for the site – on agricultural land off the B970 and just under a mile west of Boat of Garten – was to go-ahead.
CNPA head of planning Gavin Miles told the committee: "It is very easy to start to think of this as a firm proposal which it isn't; it is an idea at this point in time.
"The detail of creating an application would have to be done by the applicants over the next few months."
The report states: "The proposal is to develop an electrical energy storage facility consisting of a compound covering approximately one hectare containing up to 50 energy storage containers immediately adjacent to the northern boundary of the existing substation.
"The site would also include an electrical control building, transformers and switchgear.
"The site would have an inner enclosure consisting of three-metre tall wooden acoustic fencing, with planted native tree belts and bunding outwith this fence.
The CNPA report also states: "Once open the site would be operated remotely and would generate very low levels of traffic, typically weekly visits by a light van.
Members were not able to discuss the merits of the application at this stage of the battery storage facility – the first proposed in the national park – with an installed capacity of up to 49.9 MHh .
A Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group spokesperson said: "We appreciate that energy storage is necessary to accommodate intermittent renewable energy supplies and ensure excess power is not lost at times of high production.
"However, this proposal will need to demonstrate that there are imperative reasons for locating this major facility in a national park close to the River Spey Special Area of Conservation, rather than in a less sensitive area.
"Concerns that need to be addressed include noise and light pollution and the potential for pollutants to enter the River Spey and the freely draining sands and gravels that underlie it."
A CNPA spokesperson said: "If there is an application for this development, the CNPA will likely call it in and determine it, but the application could be quite different from the information submitted in the pre-application notification."
More on the proposed battery storage facility and possible lay-out can be read here
