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Warley Energy Hub | Public Consultation
Clearstone Energy is proposing to develop the Warley Energy Hub – a 200MW battery energy storage facility – on land off St Mary’s Lane, Upminster, Havering, RM14 3PA. This webpage provides an overview of the proposal so local residents 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.
The project would connect to National Grid’s Warley Substation. As the grid supply point for homes and business in Havering and Thurrock, Warley substation is 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 4 hours power for all homes in Havering and Thurrock when fully charged
Warley Energy Hub Impact
Would displace 108,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from gas fired power plants each year
Equivalent to planting 5 million trees
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Latest News
Thank you to those residents that attended our online consultation event on Monday 22nd July. We’ve posted the presentation for viewing and download below and added additional questions and answers to the Q&A section further down this web page. If you have any further questions or if you would like to discuss the project with us please email us at warley@clearstoneenergy.com.
The pre-application consultation runs until Friday 16th 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 18 hectares with the battery facility accounting for 7 hectares. Connection to the electricity grid would be via underground cable along Warley Street and Clay Tye Road. 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 Havering Council as part of our planning application for the project. This example design ensures that more than 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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ECOLOGICAL NOTES:
Wetland Area – Sustainable drainage scheme incorporating an attenuation pond to manage rainwater run off from the site and incorporation wet meadow and pond mixes/planting and shelving for added biodiversity
Meadow – Species rich wildflower meadow mosaic with native scrub planting and tree planting
Scrub and tree screening belt – Native woodland buffer planting, copses and connecting Green Infrastructure planting – Including species which are found in neighbouring woodlands
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.
We are proposing to construct an acoustic fence along the eastern boundary of the site. Acoustic fences are typically wooden and 2.5 metres high. It would ensure that the project could not be heard at properties on St Mary’s Lane.
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. The London Fire Brigade 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.
The land is privately owned, Clearstone Energy has an agreement in place with the landowner for the use of the land. We will be applying for planning permission for the development area outlined on this web page and have no plans to develop the remainder of the field with agricultural use continuing.
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 two HGVs a day bringing prefabricated units to the site during construction. Construction vehicles will route to the site via the M25, A127 and Warley Street. 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.
The project would cost approximately £100 million to build. If the project receives planning consent, Clearstone Energy would seek financing from a bank or investment fund to cover construction costs. Current estimates for the returns from a project like this are 7%.
We sent the project brochure to the closest 70 properties to the project site. This is the first stage of the public consultation for the project and we wanted to give those people that are potentially most impacted by the project the opportunity to learn about our plans provide feedback before speaking to the wider community. The project website is open to all residents and it was good to see residents from further afield join the webinar.
The residents of St Marys Lane have been the primary focus for this first stage of our public consultation and it was good to see a number on the webinar. The decisions we have made about locating the site (to the north of the field), new planting and noise control have been driven by ensuring that the project presents as little impact as possible for those living closest to the site.
Clearstone Energy sold its battery storage project next to Warley substation to provide funds to develop future projects. It was brought and is being built by Foresight Group, a British-based investor in renewable energy infrastructure projects, who already operates a number of other battery storage sites in the UK. Construction has been delayed by National Grid delaying the grid connection it requires to be operational. The facility is now called Warley Battery Storage Limited.
Some of the old coal fire power stations are being redeveloped for battery energy storage. The location of this project is driven by the need to be able provide energy to homes in Havering, Thurrock and Essex that are fed by the National Grid substation at Warley.
Clearstone Energy is working with an experienced team of landscape and ecology consultants who are currently finalising planting recommendations. Anything we plant will be native to the local area. We will also be responsible for maintaining planting across the lifetime of the project. This commitment would be part of any planning approval for the project.
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. Rob Garratt is the Development Manager for the Warley 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 16th August, we will integrate your feedback into a final project plan and submit a formal planning application for the project to Havering 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
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