25MW battery storage facility at Land 190M Northwest Of 3 Leadhills Road, Elvanfoot, Biggar

“Description of Proposed Development 3.1. Planning permission is sought for the installation of a circa 25 Megawatt (MW) battery storage facility and associated infrastructure on land at Leadhills Road, Elvanfoot.”

“1: 8 no. battery storage containers (measuring 2.4m x 6.1m x 2.6m in height), sited in concrete plinth foundations. 2: Electrical cabinets housing the Energy Management System (EMS), Battery Management System (BMS) and Low Voltage Controls. 3: Internal site access road. 4: Invertor and Transformer Units. 5: Site compound, enclosed by 3m high security fence and measuring 44.1m x 70.9m approximately.”

“The land within the boundary of the site comprises rough agricultural grazing land, bounded by post and wire fencing. The site slopes gently from west to east, with the land rising more steeply beyond the northwestern boundary of the site towards the Lowther Hills.”

“Beyond the site to the south, there is a telecoms mast and gas governor compound, with the Elvanfoot Substation lying a short distance to the west of the site. To the east of the site there is a Scottish Water control building.”

“Principle of Development 10.6. Policy 11 of NPF4 seeks to encourage, promote and facilitate all forms of renewable energy development which includes energy generation, storage, new and replacement transmission and distribution infrastructure. Part (a) of Policy 11 states that development proposals for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emissions technologies will be supported, and these include, at point iii:-”

“It is considered that the principle of the proposed battery energy storage facility in Elvanfoot accords with the provisions of part (iii) of Policy 11 which sets out clear support for energy storage systems, including “battery storage”.”

“West of Scotland Archaeology Service - No objection to the proposal, subject to conditions. Response: Noted.”

“Representations 7.1. Following the statutory period of neighbour notification and advertisement, a total of 18 representations have been received, all of which note an objection to the proposed development. The issues raised within these various representations are summarised as follows: -”

“Fire and Toxic Gas Risk • Insufficient information has been provided to allow for a full and proper assessment of the risks associated with any fire at the development site.”

“Policy conflicts • The proposed development conflicts with a number of development plan policies.”

“The Committee decided: that planning application P/26/0324 by [the applicant] 3 Limited for the installation of a circa 25 MW battery storage facility and associated infrastructure at land 190 metres northwest of 3 Leadhills Road, Elvanfoot, Biggar be deferred to a future meeting of the Planning Committee to allow:-”

“the applicants to provide the Committee with an explanation as to why they had submitted 3 separate planning applications that referred to the same wider site and were under the same ownership • additional opportunity for the applicants to engage with residents within the vicinity of the application sites…”