Plans submitted for new battery energy storage system in Dromore

A PLANNING application to install a battery energy storage system in Dromore has been submitted to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

Renewable energy company, RES, has submitted the planning application for its up to 100MW Shaneragh battery energy storage system (BESS), with a build time of 15 months, if successful.

Chosen for its proximity to Dromore substation and lying outside of any national or local environmental designations, the Shaneragh BESS will support the variable generation of renewable energy technologies and manage the complex supply and demand needs of the 21st Century.

Increasing the installed capacity of battery energy storage will be vital to support Northern Ireland’s net-zero emissions target and help to deliver a reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity system for the future.

Peter Henry, development project manager for RES, said that as well as playing an important role in decarbonising the energy system and providing grid stability, the Shaneragh proposal would also ‘enhance biodiversity in the local area’ through proposed new native hedgerow and grassland planting.

“The importance of battery energy storage systems was demonstrated in October last year, when the interconnector between the UK and Norway suddenly stopped exporting power to the UK1,” he said.

“As a result, the frequency of our grid network dropped well below the operational limits and this would have led to power outages had it not been for fast-acting frequency services, like battery energy storage, which were able to recover the system within two minutes.”

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.