Cumberland Council has granted planning permission for a 200MW/400MWh BESS project from developers Recurrent Energy and Windel Energy, which will not start construction until 2029 unless a new grid connection date is agreed.
The two-hour Harker project is located between the villages of Todhills and West Linton on the outskirts of Carlisle and will be connected to the Harker National Grid Substation via an underground 400kV cable.
Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2029, although transmission system operator (TSO) National Grid is currently assessing the acceleration of its grid connection, which could mean it comes online sooner, Recurrent said.
The approval of the building application follows a period of local consultation, according to Recurrent Energy. This included meetings with several key stakeholders, a dedicated project website, extensive landscaping to provide robust visual and noise mitigation, extensive acoustic fencing to limit noise impact, the provision of detailed battery storage FAQs and the implementation of a 23% net biodiversity gain target .
The site covers three fields totaling 6.4 hectares and will accommodate 162 battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Recurrent Energy is the project development arm of China and Canada-based PV module and BESS manufacturer Canadian Solar, and last week secured a £1.1 billion revolving credit facility for its global pipeline.
BESS’s e-Storage arm is already active in the UK market, signing an agreement with international utility and independent power producer (IPP) Engie in December for two separate 50MW/100MWh projects.
In other BESS industry news, this week we also saw the first BESS units arrive on site at a 150MW/300MWh project under construction by SSE Renewables, while developer NatPower last week announced plans for an earlier-stage 1GW BESS project in the North East -England.
