Planning documents indicate that the Shaneragh development will likely comprise of 116 battery storage containers, alongside a 110 kV BESS substation compound and a 110 kV distribution network operator (DNO) substation compound. Additionally, a number of biodiversity enhancements for the site have been proposed, including the planting of native hedgerows and grassland. According to RES, the site location was primarily chosen due to its proximity to the Dromore substation, to which it will connect.
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s Planning Committee will now review RES’s planning application, with a determination expected later in the year. If consented, RES predicts the project will take around 15 months to construct.
Peter Henry, development project manager for RES, said: “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 UK. 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.
“As well as playing an important role in decarbonising our energy system and providing grid stability, our Shaneragh proposal would also enhance biodiversity in the local area.”
In the decade that RES has been working in the BESS sector, the company has developed over 830MW of energy storage projects across the UK and Ireland, and currently manages over 600MW of operational BESS projects.
RES hits the ground running for 2025
Despite being less than ten days into the new year, the Shaneragh proposal is not RES’s first planning announcement this year.
As Solar Power Portal covered on 3 January, the company recently revealed that it has submitted a planning application for the Beane Solar Farm project, to be located west of Cottered in Hertfordshire.
The Beane Solar Farm proposal has requested permission for a 49.9MW solar PV power plant, with an undisclosed capacity BESS system co-located on site. When announcing the project, RES emphasised its commitment to biodiversity enhancement, stating that the project will bring a predicted 98.4% biodiversity net gain in habitat units, a 189.9% biodiversity net gain in hedgerow units, and a 10.19% gain in watercourse units. The land will also be used for agricultural grazing during the project’s operational lifespan.
