A PUBLIC exhibition is being held in Port Glasgow today on plans for a battery energy storage facility on agricultural land above the town.

The proposed High Mathernock site, on Auchentiber Road near Kilmacolm, would have a capacity of up to 334MW and would include 87 battery units to store excess electricity before releasing it to the grid during times of high demand.

An acoustic fence would surround the site and a retaining wall would also be installed, while the proposal includes a plan to plant structural woodland around the periphery to mitigate potential visual impacts and enhance biodiversity.

Forestry Finance Ltd, set up by local farmer David Connell, has pooled resources with other renewable energy developers to further the development, with a formal application to Inverclyde Council set to follow in September.

Consultation events will open at Port Glasgow Golf Club between 2pm and 4.30pm and from 5pm until 7pm on Tuesday.

Comments - which can be submitted online at the website highmathernockbess.com – will be accepted until August 9 and a second public exhibition is planned later next month.

The project website states that the site will be online by 2029 and adds: “BESS [battery energy storage systems] are crucial for the renewable energy transition.

“With the increasing adoption of renewable energy sources like wind and solar, batteries play a pivotal role in addressing their inherent intermittency and variability.”