Two planning applications for countryside battery energy storage facilities have been refused after residents attended a planning meeting to fight their case.

The plans concerned land near Ravensbrook Farm and Somerford Farm, south of Minety, a village that sits between Malmesbury and Swindon.

The area has seen numerous applications for energy-based projects in recent years, including the installation of the largest storage battery in Europe and approved plans for the Minety Solar Farm, which is predicted to generate enough renewable power for 15,000 homes.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: Councillors were shown a map detailing the other active planning applications in the area for Solar Photovoltaic and Battery Energy Storage System developments. Councillors were shown a map detailing the other active planning applications in the area for Solar Photovoltaic and Battery Energy Storage System developments. (Image: Wiltshire Council)

The application for Ravensbrook Farm was submitted by Conrad Energy in June 2022 and sought full planning permission for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with a capacity of c.50MW.

The plans showed the batteries would be housed within containers which use air conditioning units for cooling purposes and that the facility would need to be supported by accompanying development, such as transformers and inverters.

According to the application, the site would also be surrounded by security fencing and new landscaping and biodiversity enhancements.

It states: “The primary function of the proposed development is to provide standby electricity storage capacity into the local distributive network at peak times to avoid fluctuations and blackouts and can aid in avoiding transmission losses when electricity is transmitted over long distances.

“Transmission losses can be up to 14%. Times of generation will match times of peak demand within the local network and generation can be controlled remotely.”

A similar but smaller project was approved for the site in 2018 but the permission expired before work started.

The planning officer report recommended councillors approve the new application and concluded that “significant weight is given to the potential of the development to contribute towards the strengthening of the electricity network and climate change objectives.”

However, three residents attended the Northern Area Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 28, to express their objections to the plans.

They raised concerns over the environmental impact of the project on the nearby footpath and Ravensroost Wood.

Ms Penny King said: “Let me promise you, with no shadow of a doubt, that if you grant planning for this development and the other remote ones at Somerford Farm and nearby, it will have a devastatingly harmful effect on many lives, animal and human ones.”

“Wiltshire, do you really want to go on record for being one of the few, possibly one of the only, councils in the country to allow such a facility in a greenfield site, especially when the brown ones of Swindon are not ten miles away and on the same electricity cable?"

George Hall, the Head of Solar at Conrad Energy, responded: “Batteries are widely recognised as an essential part of the transition to a low-carbon economy, enabling the wider environmental benefits associated with the production of energy from renewable sources.

“This proposal is therefore a sustainable development, providing environmental, economic and social benefits.

“The ability to connect into the grid is critical. However, due to the limitations in the electricity grid infrastructure, the choice of locations where such schemes can be brought forward are very limited."

The Chairman of the meeting, Councillor Chuck Berry, said he was concerned by the “plethora of battery installations being sought for permission, without any clear indication as to what we need, where we need it, and why.”

Similar concerns were raised for the Somerford Farm application.
In the end, the committee voted to refuse both applications.

After the meeting, a Conrad Energy spokesman said: “Whilst disappointed in the decision, we respect the views that have been put forward and will carefully consider the views of the local community in shaping the plans we submit for appeal.”