{"id":342627,"date":"2024-09-11T08:51:28","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T06:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342627"},"modified":"2024-09-11T08:51:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T06:51:30","slug":"the-bus-sized-battery-farms-threatening-to-blight-britains-countryside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342627","title":{"rendered":"The bus-sized battery farms threatening to blight Britain\u2019s\u00a0countryside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Philip Bratby<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind mills, solar farms and giant batteries. How to wreck the English countryside for no good reason!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mega projects designed to store renewable energy are drawing the ire of rural communities<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bucolic Buckinghamshire village of Granborough, while picturesque, is not much of a landmark. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, it briefly became a point of interest for James Bond fans when the abandoned rail station was referenced in the 2012 film Skyfall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the farmland around the village has been scoped out as the potential site for not one, but two giant battery installations and a solar farm.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The energy companies Statera and Statkraft have applied for permission to build two 500-megawatt sites near a new electricity substation, arguing it can support the move to a decarbonised electricity grid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan has provoked heavy local opposition. \u201cThis might become an industrial area more than the farming land it\u2019s been for the last thousand years,\u201d says Jamie Ingham Clark, of the Claydons Solar Action Group.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBattery storage sites should be on brownfield \u2013 they should not take away our ability to grow food.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigners say they are particularly concerned about fire risk from the batteries, after a major fire at a facility in Liverpool four years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they are fighting an uphill battle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the UK, giant battery installations are being proposed as investors seek to capitalise on <\/em>Labour\u2019s plan to decarbonise the grid with a wind and solar boom<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of grid batteries \u2013 mega projects featuring banks of bus-sized blocks able to power thousands of houses at once \u2013 say they are the missing piece in the puzzle, drawing excess power from wind and solar when the weather allows and releasing it when it is dark, calm and people need to heat and light their homes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 1,862 grid-scale battery storage projects have been built or proposed in Britain, according to RenewableUK, compared to just 215 that are currently operational.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all these projects were built, this would provide 108.87 gigawatts (GW) of power \u2013 more than double the peak electricity demand of the whole country last winter. This would be up from just 4.6 GW currently, and zero eight years ago, suggesting an unprecedented battery boom is on the horizon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been significant growth in the span of eight years, and that\u2019s been made possible by a more decarbonised system. With that comes the requirement for battery storage,\u201d says Yonna Vitanova, of RenewableUK.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/business\/2024\/09\/08\/can-batteries-power-britain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Yonna! The silly woman obviously does not realise she has got it backwards. Because useless wind and solar power is so intermittent, we must spend more billions on batteries, wrecking rural communities in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for this silly little reporter, James Titcomb, who claims that \u201cIf all these projects were built, this would provide 108.87 gigawatts (GW) of power \u2013 more than double the peak electricity demand of the whole country last winter\u201d, <\/em>does he not realise that this could only power the country for an hour or two? What on earth are we supposed to do when we have a week without wind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaven help us all if this is the standard of the Telegraph\u2019s journalism now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wind mills, solar farms and giant batteries. How to wreck the English countryside for no good reason!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":342631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821693,691824443,691819729,691818154,691824798],"class_list":{"0":"post-342627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ed-miliband","9":"tag-electricity-bills","10":"tag-grid-batteries","11":"tag-net-zero","12":"tag-renewable-green-energy-2","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0b24875f1a4b41e0fc1d4302182024dd0.jpeg?fit=1242%2C776&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1r8f","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":365612,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365612","url_meta":{"origin":342627,"position":0},"title":"Ed Miliband\u2019s Battery\u00a0Blitz","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Amongst all of Ed Miliband\u2019s crimes against the UK, surely the deliberate desecration of the countryside is up there amongst the worst.","rel":"","context":"In \"countryside\"","block_context":{"text":"countryside","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=countryside"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Abandonned-wind-park.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Abandonned-wind-park.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Abandonned-wind-park.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Abandonned-wind-park.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Abandonned-wind-park.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":262085,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=262085","url_meta":{"origin":342627,"position":1},"title":"CPRE Want Rooftop\u00a0Solar","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"And where will all these solar panels be dumped when they reach the end of their life in ten or fifteen years time? That is surely something which should be of very real concern to a countryside charity, particularly given the highly toxic materials involved.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0home-with-rooftop-solar-panels.jpg?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0home-with-rooftop-solar-panels.jpg?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0home-with-rooftop-solar-panels.jpg?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0home-with-rooftop-solar-panels.jpg?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0home-with-rooftop-solar-panels.jpg?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":345061,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=345061","url_meta":{"origin":342627,"position":2},"title":"Ed Miliband faces growing legal threat over pylons roll-out","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Ed Miliband is facing a growing legal threat from a string of councils over his decision to unleash a wave of electricity pylons across Britain. 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