Moratorium required to halt ‘huge oversupply’ of battery storage projects

Research conducted by Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) has revealed that the Scottish Government has never refused planning permission for any large battery storage facility. As a result of this, Scotland now has nearly three times as much consented battery storage capacity, as is needed by 2030, and twice as much as is needed by 2050.

The report looks in detail at applications for Battery Energy Storage Systems, otherwise known as BESS. They looked at installations over 50MW, which go to Energy Consents Unit (ECU), a division of the Scottish Government, for decision-making and smaller ones that go to local authorities.

The report found that the Scottish Government is routinely ignoring its own guidance on Greenbelt designations and biodiversity enhancement, when taking decisions on battery storage.

Dr Kat Jones, director of APRS, said: “We already have planning permission for three times as much battery storage capacity as we need, but the applications keep coming in, and they keep getting consented. This has to stop.

“Developers must see large battery storage as a complete walk-over for planning permission. And it is. We found that no application for a large stand-alone battery storage site has ever been refused. We have seen them permitted on green belts, meters from 5000-year-old prehistoric sites, in woodlands, and on prime agricultural land.”

The charity is calling for an immediate moratorium on BESS planning decisions to allow time for a strategic review of battery storage. They are also calling for all decisions on battery storage to be taken at the local authority level.

“We need an immediate moratorium on battery storage projects,” said Kat. “At presen,t local democratic processes, and our National Planning Framework, are being bypassed in the decision making for these industrial developments. Decision making for all battery storage should move to local authorities, as is the case in England and Wales. We need a plan that will show where the battery storage is needed and where it can be most appropriately sited, rather than this free-for-all we see at the moment.”

The report shows that Scottish Government decision makers at Energy Consent Unit are using the Government’s National Planning Framework selectively, using a section on energy to justify consenting the battery storage applications, while ignoring Green Belts, biodiversity enhancement, and other important policies. 

“Ministers have repeatedly made it clear that the National Planning Framework should be read as a whole, and not used selectively as we are seeing in some of these cases,” added Kat Jones.

APRS points out that local authorities are currently writing local development plans which will map out where development should happen over the next 10 years. However, energy developments are not routinely part of this process. APRS says that, in order for the planning system to work as it was intended, BESS should be part of the Local Development Plan Process.

“If battery storage becomes part of the local development plan process, it means that advice and guidance from experts on energy and the grid, can be part of the decision-making along with other stakeholders, including communities and businesses,” said Kat. “And the spatial approach means development is directed towards where it is most appropriate.

“The current slap-dash approach is no good for getting the infrastructure we need in the right place. It is terrible for communities fighting bad proposals and a waste of time for developers, who may never be able to get a grid connection.”

The queue of projects waiting to be connected to the grid has been growing and many projects face waits of 10-15 years for a connection, the sheer number of battery projects being consented is not helping the situation.

The report outlines the failure of the decision making process to ensure that Battery Storage avoids Green Belts and is, instead, directed to brownfield sites, as the planning system requires.

“The irony is that many of the locations that are best placed to connect to the grid have plenty of brownfield sites nearby. However our research shows a really small proportion of battery storage sites proposed on Brownfield sites. We are concerned that the scatter-gun approach to consenting thus far could actually prevent us building a network of energy storage of an appropriate capacity and in the most appropriate locations,” said Kat.