Plans for battery energy storage site proposed
Anglo Renewables has applied to Dartford Borough Council for planning permission for the energy storage facility in Greenhithe.
Documents submitted to the authority on 29 April said the renewables firm wants to build a battery energy storage system (BESS) off Bean Lane in Greenhithe.
It is not yet known when the planning committee will decide on the bid although a target deadline of 29 July has been set, while the public can comment on the plans until 30 May, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
"The site comprises a 3.7 hectare [9 acre] parcel of land that is currently in agricultural use," the company wrote.
It insists that as the proposal is "fully reversible", any land would not be "permanently or irreversibly lost," and only about half the farmland will be built on.
BESS systems are intended to store energy, largely from renewable sources, so that it can be deployed into the grid when there is demand to avoid wasting energy.
"The 104 megawatts of storage of the site can meet the average electricity needs of 215,000 homes for two hours," planning documents said
The batteries themselves will be stored in metal containers "similar in appearance to a ubiquitous profiled steel shipping container."
The site is set to have 24/7 CCTV coverage and fences all around.
Anglo Renewables also say there will be a "biodiversity net gain" as part of their plans through a "broadleaved planting area" forming "an extension to Darenth Wood".
They also propose that the development will only be temporary, and after 40 years the facility will be decommissioned and removed, and the land returned to agricultural use.
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