Go-ahead for Green Belt battery plant

A RENEWABLE energy battery storage plant has been approved on Green Belt land at Iron Acton, after negotiations over landscaping and nature protection.

The system will store electricity produced by a huge solar farm due to be built on 106 acres of land north of Iron Acton substation, at Lower Lark’s Farm, in Lark’s Lane.

The battery system has been given permission by planners despite being in the Green Belt, because of “very special circumstances” put forward by the developer RE Projects Developments.

Planners said they accepted the need for renewable energy infrastructure, to support increasing use of renewable and low carbon energy.

In a report supporting the application, planning officers said: “Although a battery does not generate energy itself, it is critical to the functioning of renewable energy systems and cannot be separated from the wider system.

"They are therefore a vital part of renewable energy infrastructure and are a key component of the low-carbon energy infrastructure required to achieve net zero emissions.”

The plant will be made up of battery storage units, control buildings and a substation, covering three acres of land between the existing substation and the proposed solar panels. Those were given planning permission in 2021, and will produce enough electricity to supply 17,000 homes.

The batteries will allow electricity to be stored and supplied to the National Grid when needed.

When the application was submitted in July last year there were no objections from local residents or councils.

The developers have agreed to 12 conditions, including screening with new trees and plants, following a detailed ecology plan to protect wildlife during construction, as well as a plan to protect from future flooding.

Planners say the plant would support South Gloucestershire’s declaration of a 'Climate Emergency' and its aims of a lower carbon economy.

Officers said: “Given the screening of the site within the landscape, combined with the existing adjacent industrial uses, any harm to the openness of the Green Belt is deemed to be outweighed by the public benefits of the scheme.”

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