The Dams of Craigie
Project Details
Lower 48 Energy are proposing to develop a 200 MW, 2hr BESS co-located with 10 MW of Solar PV
The Development
Lower 48 Energy are proposing to develop a 200 MW, 2hr BESS co-located with up to 20 MW of Solar PV.
The 200 MW of BESS will consist of containerized Li-ion battery packs connected together through strings of inverters and transformers. All the transformer connections will be combined in a customer substation and fed to a grid transformer which will be interfaced to the SSE Transmission network.
The ground mounted Solar PV will be oriented in south facing direction and inclined at 35 degree to extract maximum energy from Solar irradiance. The advantage of co-location is that the proposed development will share substation and grid connection costs.
The development would also involve improving the farm access to the site, laying of services and drainage infrastructure within the Battery compound.
The BESS development will be screened by planting landscaping around the periphery so that the visual impacts are minimized, particularly to the West in the direction of Newmachar.
The site is located on a ridgeline but is generally well screened. We are carefully considering the siting of the Solar PV so as visual impacts are minimised or mitigated through design and associated landscaping.
The Location
The site is located on slightly sloped agricultural land to the northeast of the village of Kingseat, approximately 10 km north of Aberdeen, within the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire.The site is strategically located in between three major SSE Transmission Substations of Persley, Kintore and Peterhead with an existing 275 kV dual circuit transmission lines.
Need for the Project
With up to 25GW of offshore renewables due to be developed in the next decade under ScotWind and INTOG, Peterhead Substation is undergoing major upgrades. There are plans of additional 400 kV and 132 kV substations at Peterhead, to enable the Peterhead Net Zero 2030 Developments. A further high voltage direct current (HVDC) link is under consideration between Peterhead and South Humber, which will double the export capacity of the existing scheme already in development between Peterhead and Yorkshire.
This presents an opportunity to develop the Dams of Craigie project to store excess renewable electricity in the times of excessive generation and supply the electricity back in times of low generation and high demand. The BESS project would be able to store and supply 290,000 MWh of renewable electricity annually (which is equivalent of supplying 100,000 homes) and in the process displace ca. 77,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
When operational, the Dams of Craigie BESS will significantly contribute towards local and national decarbonization targets and help achieve net zero by 2050.
Impact on the Local Area
Based on initial surveys and analysis the site has limited environmental constraints. The site is well screened from Kingseat and by proposing to site the Battery Assets as far Eastwards as possible we reduce the visual impact when viewing from Newmachar.
Our planning advisors also feel it unlikely that the proposed development would trigger an Environmental Impact Assessment requirement, but this will later determine as we progress through the planning application.
The BESS and Solar layout design will be refined through further environmental surveys, as well as technical inputs from our engineers. The multi-discipline approach will be undertaken to produce a layout design which optimizes the design and minimises impacts on the environment.
Key drivers to the design process are:
- To minimise visual impacts from settlements and key routes in the surrounding area, eg Kingseat and Newmachar;
- To minimise impacts on sensitive habitats, and to minimise disturbance;
- To ensure that nearby residents are not subject to any increased noise effects;
- Minimising the impacts on local residents during construction and paying careful attention to traffic routes through choice of access;
- To avoid other onsite environmental constraints such as effects on areas with known bird activity; and
- Minimise impacts on recreational and tourism receptors during construction and operation.
Lower 48 Energy are committed to engaging with the community and other stakeholders at the earliest stages of the project’s development. In this way we will ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.
To find out more about our engagement proposals please visit ‘The Community’.
