Spittal BESS

Name

Spittal BESS

Ward

Wick And East Caithness

Site

SSE DC Site Spittal Sub Station Halkirk KW12 6XA

THC Reference

25/00498/S36

ECU Reference

ECU00005116

Applicant

Field Spittal Limited

Proposal

Construction and operation of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) of up to 300MW with associated infrastructure (including cable route to substation), access and ancillary works (including landscaping and biodiversity enhancement). This case will be determined by the Energy Consents Unit. Please visit Energy Consents Unit at https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00005116

Deadline

23/03/2025

Status

Under Consideration

Total capacity

300.0 MW

Capacity BESS

300.0 MW

Area BESS

38300.0 m2

Comment

BESS are very problematic because of safety aspects. Potential hazard in particular are: remote surveillance breaking down, fire hazard, toxic smoke, contaminated water runoff, limited resources of local Fire and Rescue Service, and wildfire due to fire spreading to peat, degraded peat or woodland near a site.

Recent fires in Essex and Aberdeenshire have shown how problematic such fires are. A lot of water will be used to cool down units not yet on fire to prevent them from catching fire. This produces toxic water runoff. It will not be possible to extinguish the unit or units on fire. They will have to just burn out, can re-ignite after they seem extinguished, and are producing large amounts of toxic vapor and smoke while burning.

The Spittal BESS location is next to the A9 and in the village of Spittal - a road user colliding into a battery would trigger a fire and the smoke and vapour prodced in a fire would be a mjor health hazard for everyone in Spittal and Halkirk.

Another problematic aspect is that BESS are often advertised as a solution to windless days, when in fact all they offer are short term storage. These BESS will at most be able to deliver their declared capacity for a couple of hours. They do not offer long term storage.

And more generally, BESS face the same problem as wind farms. If the grid is not able to take their capacity and transport it to the consumer, then they are useless. With the grid infrastructure being very restricted throughout Scotland and England building more capacity in the very Far North will not help.

Send objection to

The Highland Council, Energy Consents Unit

More Information Here

https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=SRINRFIH0LH00
https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00005116