'Too dangerous': Anger at plans for 168-container battery storage site 70m from Scottish schools

Concerns have been raised over plans to build a large battery storage site on a 12-hectare field less than 100m from a school campus.

Midlothian councillors were this week asked for their views on the proposals for a battery energy storage system (BESS) on land behind Dalkeith schools’ campus, which has around 2,500 children and young people on its rolls.

An example of a battery energy storage system. These consist of one or more large batteries that store electrical power for use at a later time.

The local authority will not be able to decide the outcome of the application, which is with the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit (ECU), but are able to give their views as a consultee.

At a meeting of its planning committee, a number of councillors voiced concern at the location on the field behind the campus, which includes Dalkeith and St David’s High schools, as well as Saltersgate School and Woodburn Primary School.

A battery energy storage system is proposed for the field behind Dalkeith schools' campus. Picture: Google Maps | Google Maps

Councillor Ellen Scott, SNP administration education spokesperson, pointed to an explosion and major fire in Merseyside four years ago at a battery storage unit where it was reported the temperature on the site rose to 40C within two minutes.

She urged the council to object to the application saying: “This site is just 70m from the edge of the schools campus where 2,500 of our young people, some very young at three years old and some with severe complex needs, are going to be.”

Her comments were supported by Cllr Dianne Alexander, who also said the site was over a “coal seam and gas pipe”. She said: “I just think this is too dangerous for us to allow.”

The proposals for the site include a BESS with a capacity of 200mW, with 168 storage containers spread across four compounds. The containers will be used to house Lithium-ion batteries and the compounds will be hard surfaced and enclosed with 3m-high fencing.

Councillor Derek Milligan told the meeting if the local authority wanted to meet net-zero targets, sites like the one proposed were needed. He asked officers if alternative sites for facilities like it could be identified in future plans.

Planning convenor Russell Imrie said one of the problems the council faced in voicing concerns was there was no alternative site identified as another option.

And he pointed out it was not councillors who would make the decision, as they had only been asked to comment. “It is a good one for us - we don’t make the decision,” he said. “We can oppose it here and go and have a rant and say it was nothing to do with us.

“I don’t want that to happen because we will, at the end of the day, have to regulate it.”

Cllr Imrie suggested the committee write to the ECU reflecting comments from elected members about the site and concerns. The committee backed his proposal.