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Bramford Energy Hub | Public Consultation
Clearstone Energy is proposing to develop the Bramford Energy Hub – a 400MW battery energy storage facility – on land to the east of Bramford substation in Suffolk. This webpage provides an overview of the proposal so members of the community can comment prior to the formal planning application being finalised and submitted.
The Energy Hub would store excess electricity available when generation from the UK’s wind turbines and solar farms is higher than demand and release that energy back onto the grid when demand is higher than generation. This network flexibility is urgently needed as we continue to transition UK electricity generation away from gas and coal fired power stations to meet climate change objectives.
As the location for onshore substations for the East Anglia offshore wind farms and two recently approved solar farms, Bramford is an important renewable energy hub for the East of England and a strategically important location for adding battery energy storage to the electricity grid. The project includes a comprehensive package of community benefits to ensure that the local community benefits directly from this local renewable energy project.
Capable of storing energy equivalent to 2 hours power for all homes in Suffolk when fully charged
Bramford Energy Hub Impact
Would displace 110,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from gas fired power plants each year
Equivalent to planting 5 million trees
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Latest News
We are holding a public consultation event on Monday 15th July at Loraine Victory Hall on Ship Lane in Bramford (IP8 4AL). The project team will be on site from 2 – 7pm to talk through our proposals and answer your questions.
The pre-application consultation runs until Friday 2nd August.
We’d love to get your feedback once you’ve read through our proposals. A digital feedback form for the project can be found here
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THE CRITICAL ROLE OF BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE
Built for an era of coal and gas fired power stations, the existing UK electricity network needs upgrading to support the deployment of renewable, low carbon energy. The inflexibility of the network is adding costs to bills and failing to deliver the emissions reductions needed to prevent climate change.
Batteries solve one of the biggest challenges facing renewable energy. Matching weather dependent solar and wind electricity with household and business electricity demand.
Currently, gas power plants are turned on to supplement wind and solar energy supply and meet peak electricity demand between 7 and 9am and 6 and 8pm
Batteries maximise the amount of renewable energy we can use at home and reduce the number of times we need to turn on a gas fired power plant to meet peak demand, saving money and reducing GHG emissions
Weather dependent wind and solar energy farms often produce more energy than is needed to meet electricity demand overnight and at off peak times during the day
With both supply and demand fluctuating across the day, batteries store energy when there’s more than needed to meet demand and discharge it when there’s less than needed
Example Battery Storage Facility
The total site area for the project is fixed at 10 hectares. Connection to the electricity grid would be via underground cable along Bullen Lane . The plan below shows an example of what the final scheme could look like. With the feedback gained from this public consultation we will work up a final design for submission to Mid Suffolk District Council as part of our planning application for the project. This example design ensures that one half of the site is managed for screening and biodiversity benefits and we anticipate the final design will deliver a similar ratio of electrical infrastructure to landscaping and ecology development.
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Delivering landscaping and ecology enhancements that improve natural ecosystems
It is estimated that Britain has lost around 50% of its biodiversity since the 1970s due to intensive farming, new housing and commercial development.
We are working with local ecologists to maximise biodiversity net gain across the site. We are working with local landscaping and ecology specialists to design a project is as sensitive as possible to the local environment and maximises biodiversity net gain.
This includes proposals for a new permissive footpath creating an additional link from Bullen Lane to Bullen Wood, enhancing the footpath network and extending accessibility into the countryside for local walkers.
We anticipate one half of the proposed site will be proactively managed for wildlife enhancement and delivering a well screened project. An example of the type of planting and habitats we are considering are presented below and we welcome your feedback on these together with the rest of the proposal.
ECOLOGICAL NOTES:
SB – SUDS basin – Incorporating wet meadow and pond mixes/planting and shelving for added biodiversity – Emorsgate EMS Meadow Mixture for Wetlands and EPl Pond Edge Mixture or similar.
SM – Species Rich Meadow – Meadow mosaic with native scrub planting and tree planting – Emorsgate EM2 Standard General Purpose Meadow Mixture and EH1 Hedgerow Mixture or similar.
BP – Native Woodland Buffer – Native woodland buffer planting, copses and connecting Green Infrastructure planting – Including species which are found in neighbouring woodlands such as:
Acer campestre, Aesculus hippocastanum, Cornus controversa, Crataegus monogyna, Populus tremuloides, Prunus spinosa, Sambucus nigra, Acer pseudoplatanus, Castanea sativa, Corylus avellana,
Ilex aquifolium, Prunus avium, Quercus robur
Frequently asked questions
No – while the facility would generate some low-level electrical noise from the inverters, switchgear, and fan equipment this noise would not be perceptible beyond the site boundaries. To demonstrate this, a Noise Impact Assessment will be submitted as part of any future planning application.
All Clearstone projects must comply with the standards set out in our comprehensive Battery Safety Standards Plan. Our safety plan draws on best practice from the UK’s National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the US’s National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). These standards cover all aspects of the project – technology, site design, installation, operation and emergency response plan – to ensure that it meets the highest safety levels. Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service will be consulted on the project at all stages of its development and operations.
No, this would be a temporary 40-year use of the land, with batteries, other equipment and hard infrastructure removed at the end of the project and the land returned to agricultural use.
Battery units are prefabricated offsite rather than assembled in situ. On site construction will be restricted to the laying of shallow concrete pads for battery containers to sit on and the craning of prefabricated units into position ready for cabling and connection works. As such, project construction would take 12-15 months.
The Lithium-Ion batteries that will be used in the project are not reliant
on scarce raw materials. There are established recycling processes for recovering the most common elements used in battery construction – iron, phosphate and lithium – for re-use.
Typically, there would be three HGVs a day bringing prefabricated units to the site during construction. Construction vehicles will route to the site via the A12, Bramford Road and Bullen Lane. Once operational, traffic would reduce to a light goods van visiting a couple of times a month.
No, there will be no lighting on site.
The maximum height of the batteries would be 3m. However, these would be screened by existing hedgerows and new woodland and hedgerow planting.
Clearstone Energy is a leading independent developer of renewable energy and energy storage projects that increase the availability of clean energy and improve the resilience of the electricity grid.
We are working with National Grid to develop solar generation and battery storage projects that are building a UK energy system based on clean, low cost and renewable energy.
Our experienced team has a track record of developing successful renewable energy projects that are providing clean and reliable energy to communities across the UK.
Since founding in 2016, Clearstone Energy has developed eleven energy projects in the UK. Two are operational and nine are in or awaiting construction.
We believe that our projects can do more than energy generation and storage. They support the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in the communities that host them. They provide opportunities to build habitats for wildlife and contribute to the preservation of local ecosystems. They provide support for community projects.
Talk to us.
As project neighbours your views are really important to us. Tom Bevan is the Development Manager for the Bramford Energy Hub project.
Whether it’s comments, feedback or questions we’d love to hear from you.
Following the public consultation
Once the public consultation closes on Friday 2nd August, we will integrate your feedback into a final project plan and submit a formal planning application for the project to Mid Suffolk District Council. As local residents you will be asked for your comments, support or objections to the project as part of the planning application review process. Those living closest to the site will typically be contacted by letter by the Council when the planning application has been received.
We also send details of the planning application by email to those residents that we have email addresses for. If you would like us to do that for you please submit your email address here.
SEND ME PLANNING APPLICATION DETAILS
Find out more about our projects
Solar Energy
The UK’s energy markets have experienced turmoil and rising electricity costs since 2021, leading to a surge in rooftop and ground-mounted solar installations in 2022. Two-thirds of UK solar generation comes from large-scale projects, and solar energy is the fastest growing and lowest cost renewable energy technology.
Battery Storage
Battery energy storage is key for reliable renewable energy. Large scale batteries near wind and solar sites ensure a constant electricity supply. Transitioning from gas to batteries will make energy cleaner, more secure and cheaper. In 2022, UK wind farms were paid £62m a day to not produce power because of the lack of storage, which cost consumers.
