Developer of Renewable Energie Innova has received full planning allocations for a 49.9 MW of solar development with considerable co-located energy storage capacity near Doncaster.

Doncaster Council has given full permission for the Almhome Energy Hub Project, which will be located in Almhome, a Hamlet 4.4 miles north of the city of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. In addition to the 49.9 MW solar installation planned for the 173-hectare site, the development will contain a 1,025GW/2.05GWH Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), of which Innova states that it is the second largest curriculum project to date gets permission.

Planning documentation indicates that 894 Bess containers are installed on the site, in addition to a large number of solar panels using bifacial photovoltaic cells. Bifacial solar panels can produce no less than 10-20% more power than traditional monofacial setups, and the Innova planning application states that the panels will also help to minimize the solar lock for the surrounding site. Once Complete, The Development Will Connect

In addition, a number of improvements for biodiversity are planned for the Almhome energy hub development, which will lead to a predicted net gain of 82% of 82% for nature habitate units, 132% for Hedgerow units and 16% for watercourse units. The development is expected to take 50 years, after which it will be taken out of use and the country will be reduced to its original state.

No date has yet been revealed before the start of the construction on the site or the expected schedule connection date, but the planning approval determines that the development must start within the next five years.

Rob Parish, senior project manager at Innova, Said: “We are proud to announce that almholme energy hub has gained planning consent. This state-of-the-art facility will offer much-needed energy storage capacity, which means that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy are effectively utilized and distributed.

“As a result, it will play an important role in helping the UK to achieve its goals for clean energy consumption, to speed up the transition to renewable power and to ensure more resilient, sustainable and affordable energy system for generations.”

This announcement follows what a bumper year was for Innova in 2024, with the company obtaining various important planning approvals and energy throughout the year.

In September Innova received a building permit to give the capacity of its permission to the Blythe Solar Farm, a co-located solar energy plant and currant development. The extension will be added to the site 16.6 MW of the solar capacity, so that the total site capacity at 44.3 MWp solar capacity plus a berry of 30 MW is added. The development is expected to be online in 2027. The following month the company was given permission to develop a 13MWP Zonne -PV energy plant in Gloucestershire, the Welsh Way Solar Farm.

Innova also celebrated the successful energy of three solar PV energy plants in 2024. The Elms Farm Solar Park, a development of 27.8 MWP in Warwickshire, was ratified in November 2024, after the successful energy of the 28.5mwp Stokeford Solar Park in in Dorset in July and Lincolnshire’s 22.6mwp Bicker Fen Solar PV Power Plant Coming Online in March.