Energy / Battery system set to go live in October
Construction work continues at the Lerwick site on the 68MW development
A NEW battery storage system in Lerwick is expected to be operational in October next year, current estimates state.
Meanwhile developer Zenobē is continuing to highlight its fire safety measures ahead of the 68MW development going live next year.
Groundwork got underway earlier this year on the project, which is designed to keep Shetland powered if there is an outage on the HVDC subsea power cable which runs to the Scottish mainland.
It is part of SSEN’s plan to put Lerwick Power Station in standby mode once the isles’ network is connected to the national grid via the HVDC cable next year.
The Wartsila batteries – which will be able to absorb excess renewable energy – would help to keep Shetland’s lights on while the power station comes out of standby mode, which could take up to 45 minutes.
Zenobē held another public engagement event at the Staney Hill Hall in Lerwick on Thursday evening, but when the presentation kicked off at 6pm, there was only one other person in attendance.
The presentation touched on some of the work ongoing at the site behind the Ocean Kinetics building, including drainage and foundations.
It is expected that battery equipment will start being loaded onto the foundations from February onwards.
Construction manager Glenn Snabel added that there are weekly pH checks to safeguard the local watercourses.
In terms of timelines, electrical works are then expected to take place between February and May.
Commissioning and testing will follow, with grid energisation in July and commercial operation from October.
The team acknowledged that battery systems can draw concern over fire safety – and this is something that happened locally during the planning phase.
Exhibition boards at Thursday’s event said government and industry data show that safety incidents are “extremely rare”.
They added that in the “few” have been reported in the UK so far, “there have been no cases of harm to people, third-party property or the environment”.
The presentation said there are more than 250 battery sites in operation across the UK.
It added that there would be heat/fire detection in each module, with each enclosure monitored five times a second, while there would be automatic fire suppression systems.
The enclosure would provide “two hours minimum protection against spread of fire”.
The meeting also heard there will be engagement with the local fire service.
There also stands to be a community benefit scheme, worth £20,000 (index linked) a year.
It would be administered in partnership with Foundation Scotland, and there are no set plans for beneficiaries yet.
Previous public consultation has highlighted priorities from residents in areas like community infrastructure, education/training, health and wellbeing, environmental conservation and energy efficiency/affordability.
Stakeholder and community engagement manager Viki McCormick added that the company was keen to “listen and respond to enquiries” from the community.
“The main thing we want to do is built trust with the neighbours in the community,” she added.
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