Chosen for its proximity directly adjacent to Eccles substation, the project has been specifically designed to minimise the amount of land required for the infrastructure and to allow continued agricultural use on the remaining areas of the field in which the project is located.

As well as playing an important grid balancing role to support the variable generation of renewable energy technologies, BESS projects like Bishops Dal can also offer critical grid stability (frequency of the grid) services on a second-by-second basis as well as providing additional network capacity, particularly at times of network stress.

John Hills, development project manager for Bishops Dal, said: “Whilst increasing the installed capacity of BESS is important to ensure a reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity system for the future, we are mindful of local residents’ concerns about the number of developments in the area. Throughout every stage of our development plans, any potential cumulative impacts with other developments have been carefully considered and mitigated where appropriate.

“We know too that the eventual decommissioning and restoration of BESS sites is of importance to the local community. RES is proud to have met our goal of recycling 98% of all materials in the decommissioning of two BESS projects, having returned the land to its original use. These projects will serve as a blueprint for future decommissioning projects and demonstrates our commitment to sustainable practices in the industry.”

RES has been working in the battery energy storage market for a decade and has developed over 830MW of energy storage projects across the UK and Ireland. This includes the development, construction and asset management of Scotland’s first utility-scale battery storage facility, the 20MW Broxburn Energy Storage facility in Broxburn, West Lothian.