Renewable energy company, RES, has submitted a planning application to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council for its Machaire battery energy storage system (BESS) proposal, with a capacity of up to 100 MW, located near Rasharkin in County Antrim.
Chosen for its close proximity to the Rasharkin substation and lying outside of any national or local environmental designations, the Machaire BESS will support Northern Ireland’s net-zero emissions target and help to deliver a reliable, resilient, decarbonised electricity system for the future.
BESS has a key role in cost-effectively decarbonising the power sector by 2030. BESS help to balance the electricity system at a lower cost by maximising the output of variable generation as well as minimising both network upgrades and the need for new infrastructure. Short-duration flexibility offered by technologies such as BESS could reduce energy system costs by up to £10 billion/y by 2050 through minimising the need for new peaking generation, such as expensive gas, and network assets.
Peter Henry, Development Project Manager for RES, commented: “We have designed the Machaire project so that it will sit sensitively within the local landscape. Potential visibility of this critical piece of infrastructure would be largely limited by the terrain and existing planting, however, we are also proposing a comprehensive landscaping plan as part of the development. The measures in this plan will provide additional visual screening alongside increasing biodiversity in the area. The Machaire proposal is therefore good for the environment as well as for local biodiversity.”
The planning submission follows the delivery of a comprehensive community consultation programme with feedback from the local community and stakeholders helping to shape the final design of the project, alongside the results of extensive environmental and technical surveys and assessments.
RES has been working in the BESS market for a decade and has developed over 830 MW of energy storage projects across the UK and Ireland. RES also currently manages over 600 MW of operational storage projects with constant monitoring provided from its Glasgow-based control centre.
The Machaire BESS proposal is expected to be determined by Causeway Coast and Glen Borough Council’s Planning Committee in 2025 and, if consented, would take around 18 months to build.
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