Plans for 100MW energy storage system at Lumcloon
Plans for a 100MW energy storage system have been unveiled for a site close to Ferbane and Cloghan.
Lumcloon Energy Ltd recently applied for planning permission to develop the battery energy storage facility on a 4.45 hectare site, at Lumcloon, which fronts onto the R357 between Blueball and Cloghan.
The site includes land which previously contained part of the former ESB power station closed in 2001 and decommissioned in 2004.
Documents submitted to Offaly County Council as part of the planning application said Lumcloon Energy Ltd proposes to develop an ESS (energy storage system) facility capable of providing 100MW of system support services to the electricity grid.
Lumcloon Energy Ltd is based at Parsons House, Axis Business Park, Clara Road, Tullamore.
The facility will contain a battery storage building which will house an array of lithium ion battery units.
It will create approximately 30 jobs during construction and up to five during its operational phase.
“The plant will be developed to facilitate and support the electricity grid providing a continuous flow of electricity and matching supply and demand.”
The plant will absorb and inject energy as dictated by the national power system.
The company said: “The plant will consume energy at a low rate in order to recharge the batteries and condition the batteries to the optimum State of Charge.'
It added: “Maintaining the balance between generation and demand ensures the power system operates without loss of supply to consumers.”
The proposed building has a floor area of some 4,536 square metres and a height of nine metres. It will also include a reception area, offices, battery room and workshop area.
The company said it had selected the site for a number of reasons including that it provided access to the electricity transmission system via the four 110k three-phase transmission lines at the site. It also referenced the power generation history of the site.
Lumcloon Energy Ltd had previously been granted permission by An Bord Pleanala in 2010 to construct and operate a gas fired electricity generating station at Lumcloon, capable of producing up to a maximum of 350 megawatts of power.
When asked what impact, if any,the planning application for the energy storage system would have on this previous proposal, a spokesman for Lumcloon Energy said the company did not wish to comment at this stage.