Battery complex plan for Loch Tay shores sparks fury
Objectors say units will be prominent in views from the other side of the loch as well as Killin, and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, as well as nearby mountains.
Perthshire residents are opposing a 'blot on the landscape' Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) scheme by the shores of scenic Loch Tay.
Madrid-based Opdenergy have submitted plans for a 49.9MW storage facility, comprising 15 battery units the size of shipping containers, at a site near Morenish which the company insist can be developed 'without causing significant environmental impact'.
However, a handful of nearby residents, and Glen Lyon and Loch Tay Community Council, have lodged objections with PKC over the renewables scheme.
The Tir Artair site west of Morenish is next to the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area as well as nearby Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve and SSSI. It is also within the Loch Tay Local Landscape Area.
Glen Lyon and Loch Tay Community Council chairperson Susan Dolan-Betney states in the group's objection: 'The natural environment is not adequately valued. The [submitted] landscape and visual overview (LVO) minimizes and underplays the visual impact the proposal will have.
'It will be highly visible from the far side of the loch, the loch itself, parts of Killin and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, and some aspects Ben Lawers and its associated mountains.
'[It is] a veritable blot on the landscape of this Local Landscape Area the purposes of which is to safeguard and enhance the character and quality of landscapes which are important or particularly valued locally.
'Far from conserving and enhancing habitats and species of international, national and local importance it is a potential threat to the National Nature Reserve and SSSIs.'
As well as visual amenity other objectors' concerns include fire risk, noise and light pollution and traffic and road safety.
One objector pointed to current proposals for two other battery storage facilities around Killin – at the site of the redundant biomass plant south of the A827 between Lix Toll and Killin and the Glen Lochay power station, adding: 'Both of these existing sites seem much more suitable for battery storage and more than sufficient for the population of Killin.
'There are ample brownfield sites near to areas of high demand and use and I question the need or requirement for a battery storage at a greenfield site near to Killin in addition to those planned at the biomass plant and Glen Lochay Power Station.'
Opdenergy in a statement lodged with the application point out: 'The site has been chosen by Opdenergy UK 13 Limited in conjunction with a willing landowner of a land ensuring that an efficient, technically and economically viable Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) can be developed without causing significant adverse environmental impacts, and adjacent to a spot where the grid has the capacity and the need for a balancing mechanism; which makes it ideal for the sitting of this necessary facility to be connected to the grid, at Killin substation.'
The company point out the facility will provide energy balancing services to the National Grid and greater efficiency for renewable energy assets connected to it significantly cutting CO2 emissions.
It adds: 'Although, the application site is within a rural setting on agricultural land, the location for the proposed development is considered appropriate, due the prominent electrical infrastructure within the vicinity of the site.
'The proposal will contribute significantly to the local and national requirements to generate renewable electricity, and complies with the relevant planning policy framework, including: development plan policies that serve to protect the character and appearance of the countryside, and to support environmentally acceptable renewable energy initiatives; and the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework.'
The plans will be determined in due course.
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