A HUGE battery energy storage site near Bradford on Tone has been given the go-ahead by district council planners.

Conrad Energy’s 50 MW plant will be able to meet the average electricity needs of about 115,000 homes for two hours.

Plans to put the equipment on a five-acre site at Fideoak, between Bradford on Tone and Bishops Hull were approved last week by Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT).

A previous application to construct a solar energy farm on the site with a capacity of up to 9.5 megawatts of power was refused nearly 10 years ago.

Conrad Energy said the development would see 30 battery energy storage containers installed, which looked similar to steel shipping containers.

These were needed to provide stand-by electricity storage capacity for the National Grid at peak times, helping to prevent fluctuations and blackouts and avoiding transmission losses of up to 14 per cent when electricity was transmitted over long distances.

SWT planning officer Ben Gilpin said: “Although in open countryside, the development would contribute towards long-term energy security to the benefit of the wider society, without being to the detriment of local amenity or landscape.

“It is recognised the proposed development is required in support of regional and national infrastructure for energy provision.”

Mr Gilpin said the development involved installing 49 single-storey rectilinear structures, but they would be seen in association with a neighbouring electricity sub-station.

Although their appearance would be ‘utilitarian’ the only parts taller than 13 feet would be a 132 kV sub-station which was needed to allow safe flow of electricity to and from the facility to the grid.

“With the proposed landscaping planning condition, no significant harm would result to the character and appearance of the local area,” he said.

Ten conditions were placed on the scheme, including a requirement to reinstate the land to its former use once the battery storage stopped being used.

Conrad project manager George Hall said the planning approval was another step forward in the company’s ability to support the National Grid at times of system stress.

Mr Hall said it was also an opportunity to improve local ecology while addressing the energy dilemma, with a predicted biodiversity net gain of almost 60 per cent.

 A second battery energy storage application near Bradford on Tone by STOR Power has still to be determined by SWT.

STOR wants to construct a 20 MW facility with 16 lithium‐ion battery containers on land off Hele Road.