Root-Power, the leading battery energy storage system (BESS) specialist, has received planning permission for a new 50 MW/100 MWh BESS site in Silchester, Reading.
The site will be able to power 100 000 homes for a period of two hours once fully operational.
The project is in the greenbelt and has been designed to be visually in keeping with this agricultural setting. The new site also features complex acoustic engineering requirements and has been carefully designed to ensure it will result in no net increase in background noise levels, even when operating at night where the background noise level drops substantially.
During development, Root-Power worked closely with the local ecology team and the highways department at the planning authority to ensure preservation of existing trees and hedgerows both around the development, but also along the route of the incoming 132 kv electricity cable.
Root-Power targeted the location due to its proximity to Bramley substation, which is less than 500 m from the project site and has been reinforced as part of SEPDs long-term development strategy. The BESS site at Withy Place has a 2027 connection date and construction on the project is expected to commence in early 2026.
Withy Place is the sixth BESS site that Root-Power has been awarded planning permission in the last three months.
Neil Brooks, Managing Director at Root-Power, commented: “We’re happy to have secured planning permission for our 50 MW project at Silchester, Reading. Our team has a track record of finding suitable locations for battery storage schemes in the greenbelt, with Withy Place being our fourth greenbelt project to obtain planning permission in the past months. With a 2027 connection date, this project will form a key part of our plans for the next few years.
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