A PUBLIC exhibition showcasing plans for a battery energy storage facility on agricultural land above Port Glasgow was held yesterday.
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 national grid during times of high demand.
An acoustic fence would surround the site, close to Inverclyde Wind Farm on Corlic Hill and the Devol Moor substation, 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 opened on Tuesday at Port Glasgow Golf Club.
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.
"These batteries store excess electricity during times of high renewable energy generation and discharge it when demand in high or renewable generation is low.
"This helps balance the supply and demand of electricity and reduce the need for expensive and polluting fossil fuel-based back-up power plants.
"By smoothing out the variability in renewable energy generation, battery storage makes it more predictable and dispatchable, encouraging further deployment of renewables."
Plans for a similar site, on countryside near Flatterton Farm in Greenock, were lodged with the local authority late last year, while separate permission is being sought for a 49-megawatt facility on disused brownfield land at the former Dougliehill Water Treatment Works.
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