200MW battery energy storage site proposed for Ross-shire site north of Loch Luichart
Plans for a 200 megawatt battery storage power facility next to a Ross-shire substation are in the works.
Field Corriemoillie Ltd is eyeing up the creation of the new power storage site on land immediately to the north of the Corriemoillie substation near Loch Luichart.
A prior application notice (PAN) relating to the project was recently 'noted' by Highland Council. A PAN is the early stages of the planning process and comes before a full planning application is sought.
Full details of the scale, location and orientation of the planned batteries will not be known until then. However, the proposal was described by Highland Council planners as occupying a 17.5 hectare site, of which 11.7 hectares will incorporate the battery storage area, and 5.8 hectares will "constitute the indicative grid connection and access corridor".
The site extends from the existing Corriemoillie substation into an area of woodland "directly to the north-east" and a former pit/quarry.
If it goes ahead the site would feature "a maximum installed capacity of up to 200MW and associated electrical equipment."
They added: "The development will involve the construction of new infrastructure, and ancillary works, access, cable route, drainage, landscaping, and biodiversity enhancements."
If a full planning application is lodged and approved, the new storage site would be accessed from the A832 via the same existing access road as the Corriemoillie substation.
Public consultation events were held in Garve in May and earlier this month.
The application comes just a few months after unrelated plans for a 50MW battery energy storage facility were lodged for another site near Loch Luichart.
That site, which is located roughly 800 metres north-west of Grudie Bridge at the western end of Loch Luichart, is proposed by applicant Lochluichart Battery Storage Ltd. That application has yet to be decided by Highland Council.
