Major battery storage station planned for site near Birr

A planning application has been submitted to Offaly County Council for the proposed development of a 100MW Battery Energy Storage Station with 53 battery containers and associated equipment, on a site 3.8km north west of Birr.

The applicant, Birr Renewable Ltd, lodged the planning application with the local authority on August 15, seeking approval for the project on a 1.9 hectare site at the townland of Clondallow beside the existing Dallow 110kV Sub-Station.

Documents submitted as part of the application indicate the proposed development aims to assist in reinforcing and stabilising the national electricity grid and providing energy storage services to the Eirgrid electricity network.

A planning and design report submitted as part of the planning permission documentation also cited potential benefits of the proposed green energy development.

"Battery energy storage units are crucial in speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy," said the report.

"Battery storage units are a device that enable energy from renewables such as wind or solar to be stored and then released into the electrical grid when power is needed most.

"The proposed development will provide increased ability to supply more predictable and smoother energy while increasing the proportion of renewable energy that can be used. Energy storage is a key element which will transform how we use electricity in the future."

"Ireland has installed significant amounts of renewable energy generation in recent years, mainly in the form of wind turbines and solar developments.

“This has the advantage of increasing the amount of home-grown renewable energy resources we use and reducing our carbon emissions.

“However, solar and wind generation can also be intermittent since no power is produced when it gets dark or when the wind stops blowing,” it added.

“As a result, energy storage systems are set to play a significant role in delivering a secure, sustainable electricity system in Ireland now and in years to come.”

The planning application filed with Offaly County Council stated that the proposed site, for which landowner consent has been received, is “currently being used as agricultural pasture and arable land”.

“The existing land use at the proposed project site is agriculture and it is surrounded largely by other agricultural lands, with the ESB Dallow 110kV substation site adjacent.

“Land use for the last number of years has been consistently for agriculture/grazing alongside the energy grid infrastructure.

“The site is in a sparsely populated area, with just a handful of residential properties and farm buildings scattered throughout the area," according to the application.

The planning documentation also stated that "all views" of the proposed development "will be intermittent due to existing and proposed screening, with only the tallest parts of the proposed Battery Energy Storage Station likely to be visible" to properties, "the nearest residence... being over 100 metres away".

Planning application documents stated that the construction of the proposed development is expected to "occur over a period of six to 12 months".

The developer expects to employ a workforce of 20 during the construction phase of the project, and to employ four staff when the facility is in operation.

A letter of landowner consent stated that the land for the proposed project was “subject to an agreed commercial long-term lease agreement between both parties”.