The developer of Cleve Hill Solar Park, a 373MW solar farm, has successfully appealed Swale Council’s decision to refuse permission for the co-located 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
Earlier this year, Solar energy portalreported that a Swale Borough Council local planning committee refused an application to install the BESS asset on the development, formally known as Project Fortress.
Residents were afraid of using lithium ferrophosphate batteries (LFP) to store energy because they are “more subject to explosion risk than other types”, according to a BBC report.
One of the main reasons for the initial rejection of the safety management plan was a “lack of on-site water storage facilities, a lack of access to the battery storage area and the absence of an evacuation plan.”
But in a victory for large-scale solar farms, the decision was successfully appealed and the council’s conduct was found to have been unreasonable. As a result, the municipality must pay the developer’s professional costs and the project can proceed.
The £450m solar farm was acquired by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners from Hive Energy and Wirsol in 2021.
Gareth Phillips, partner and head of client relations, global energy sector, at law firm Pinsent Masons, led the call, stating that the outcome is “confirmation that the developer’s battery proposals met planning and safety requirements, and the local authority’s rejection of the plan was made without justification.”
“The award of full costs is reassuring that unreasonable conduct by public decision makers, which serves to delay clean energy projects, will be brought to justice,” Phillips added.
“The project will be an important step in supplying Britain with clean, renewable solar energy and an essential part of the country’s ambitions to meet its net zero targets.
“This is a case where the developer, statutory advisers and local authority planning officers did everything required of them, with officers taking the extra step of consulting the local community and appointing an independent expert to provide greater certainty to get. . Both were let down by unfounded and politically motivated decision-making.”
