Plans for huge energy park and data centre approved
Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter
A huge renewable energy project in Cardiff’s has been approved despite concerns over habitat loss.
The energy park and data centre development proposed for the old motocross track off Rover Way in Tremorfa will have a 1,000MW battery storage capacity – making it one of the biggest battery storage facilities in the world.
Currently the biggest battery storage facility is in California and has a capacity of 875MW to store surplus solar energy. There is a plan for a £750m facility with a capacity of 1,040MW in Manchester.
The idea behind the energy park is to have supply of stored energy, produced from a renewable source like wind power, to help meet growing energy demands in the UK in a way that is environmentally friendly.
Environmental impacts
However, at a Cardiff Council planning committee meeting on Thursday, October 17 where the plans were approved, senior planners at the local authority said the development will come with environmental impacts.
Cardiff Council planning officer Tim Walter pointed planning committee members’ attention to the fact that the proposed building site is surrounded by a number of sites of scientific and ecological importance.
He said some tree loss will be necessary and that the council accepts the development “will be big and prominent”, but he added that the scheme was seen to be acceptable on balance.
Motorcycle riders stopped using the Rover Way site, which was once subject to controversial plans for a wood-chipped biomass plant, this summer.
About 2,000 cubic metres of material will need to be redistributed and potentially removed from the site in order to level it for the energy park. This will result in a 70% loss of habitat space.
Compensation
No compensation site has been offered in mitigation for the loss of land, however the council will benefit from a legal agreement with the developer which will see it gain £250,000.
It is hoped this can be used to fund biodiversity projects or find replacement land in mitigation. However, the council’s own ecological officer raised concerns about the lack of off-site compensation.
Some planning committee members, including Cllr Adrian Robson, also raised their concerns.
Cardiff Council’s operational manager for strategic development management and placemaking, Steve Ball, said he hopes the money will contribute “significantly” to the loss of land and habitat but added that this is not guaranteed.
Although there is the guarantee of money, he added that the council cannot give certainty as to what this money will do. He went on to say that the impacts of the development are outweighed by the “fundamental benefits” that it will bring.
A planning statement produced for the developers, PCG Ltd, LATOs Ltd and TEP Ltd, reads: “The drive to achieve a carbon-neutral energy strategy for the UK is dependent on the use of renewable and green energy.
“Wind and solar power are the most cost-effective forms of energy generation.
“However, particularly around the UK, they are unreliable, meaning they do not generate 24/7 and may not be producing power when it is needed, so, as the UK’s energy requirements continue to grow, electricity storage facilities will help ensure that energy supply is able to meet the demand.
“These facilities allow power to be stored to balance the network when it is required, creating a more secure system that is environmentally and financially sustainable.”
Shipping containers
The energy park will be made up of 828 battery units stored in shipping containers.
On the other side of the development, the data centre will be 25m in height and comprise of eight floors. Access to it will be off Rover Way.
Another member of the planning committee, Cllr Michael Michael, called the current site at Rover Way “unsightly”.
He added: “If we are serious about our carbon zero commitments… then applications like this need to be seriously considered in this area and in this country.
“For what it is, it is an excellent application.”
It is also hoped the development will create hundreds of jobs in the area.
About 1,000 will be created during the construction period; 200 during the operational period; and about 200-300 jobs in the local supply chain are also expected benefit.
Planning committee member, Cllr Helen Gunter, asked whether local people would benefit from the jobs on offer.
Mr Ball sad the council hadn’t heard from the developer as to whether jobs at the site would go to local people, but he added that he was confident that this was something “any reasonable development” would seek to achieve.
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Seriously, how much green spaces do we need to lose in Cardiff. It is just becoming an ugly concrete jungle.
You can always get the train to Bynglichie Byrn Eyri or what ever its called these days! or maybe you’ll have to drive there, not sure if TfW goes to national Parks?
We live and work in this city. I don’t see why we can’t keep it green, blue and beautiful.
Hardly a brownfield site, it is an old motor cross rally site with plenty of green spaces surrounded by the sites of ecological importance. As stated in the above article. This site could have been used for wind energy generation with wind turbines. We have plenty of hydroelectric dams in GB. Excess electricity power in the grid can be stored by pumping water to higher dams such as in Elan Valley. This is already being done in electric mountain in north Wales.
Lithium batteries are highly combustible. It is irresponsible to place such a large amount on an urban area. I have already mentioned how excess energy from the grid can be stored in other ways.
Nothing new here, England needs energy, so Cymru pays the price, while England gets to profit. Last week I read of plans to build more reservoirs for hydro electricity, because England needs more power, but this time it was Scotland who were being looked at , and Loch Ness was even mentioned, anywhere but England, the very place that is in need.
You literally have no clue as to what is happening. There is a build out of massive new data centres in South Wales that will consume Gigawatts of energy in the years to come and a transition to electric blast furnaces, and vehicle electrification quite locally. Wales against the World is it ? Get some perspective. In any case the border between Wales and England is a political boundary, not an economical or cultural border. We all live on the same Island and share the same needs. However, Investment in Renewable Energy and Data Centres for example will create new… Read more »
Just to point out that it is either a blast furnace or an electric arc furnace…..there are no “electric blast furnaces” anywhere !!
This sounds awful. The constant hum from this development will disturb many living in the area. The emission of low frequency noise can seriously impact health and well being.
Its noticeable how such unacceptable developments are always built in deprived areas. Areas with no real political voice even if their council rep is the leader of the council.
I hope the locals challenge this.
You typed on a smart phone, to post this comment. So where exactly do you think the data centre was? England?
Such nimby negativity and all as everyone wants a cup of green tea boiled using magic dust. This will hum a lot less than anything that is burning fossil fuel from Siberia or would you prefer a nuclear reactor here instead? All industrial down there anyway not residential. I applaud it. Ho hum …
Good point on the nuclear reactor. Lithium batteries are highly combustible. Stick a load of them together and it is a potential massive ecological disaster.
OK, so no nuclear, no batteries (all these EV’s on peoples drives up in flames), no ugly wind turbines, no chunky solar farms (think of the newts), no burning dirty coal, no burning gas or biomass as it emits carbon. Lets all just sit in the dark, happy!
Stick solar panels on rooftops place wind turbines close to business parks near the coast and place hydroelectric turbines in all dams and within our rivers.
Excellent, the UK needs Data centres if we are to succeed in a globalised world.
Typical developers and councillors. Money and lip-service. What will £250k achieve? A third of a house in Cardiff? This is laughable. Wales generates twice as much energy as we need and we export the rest. Who is this for exactly?