Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) applications are being made all over Scotland.  The role of a BESS is to store surplus generated electrical energy in lithium ion batteries; then the companies owning them will sell it back to the national grid when there is demand. There is a good chance that one of these developments are planned in your vicinity.  

While energy security is something that most people in Scotland support, we also want these projects to be safe.  When batteries do go on fire the consequences are devastating, leading to thermal runaway situations and emergency responders put their lives at risk trying to extinguish these fires. They require immense amounts of water and the resulting water runoff can contain hydrofluoric acid – incredibly harmful to the surrounding environment – as well as creating toxic gases.  

On 15 September 2020, a fire at a BESS site at Carnegie Road in Liverpool took 59 hours to extinguish and created a "significant blast".  Incidents like this, with the same technology, have occurred worldwide.  In Scotland we have seen what happens when lithium ion batteries go on fire with major incidents happening at recycling plants at Kilwinning and Linwood recently.

The UK government published guidelines in April 2024 entitled “Health and Safety in Grid Scale electrical energy storage systems” seeking to encourage the placement of BESS’s on the correct sites and advise that:

·        Consultation with Fire and Rescue services occurs at the design and planning stage.

·        These sites have two access roads so that fires can be reached from either direction if one becomes obstructed or inaccessible

·        A water supply is available that can deliver the required flow for a protracted period of time

·        Plans are made for the management of potential chemical release in the event of a fire

·        Sites are selected that will minimize environmental impacts if fires do occur.

Residents around the country are fighting these installations in their own communities.  This is primarily because unscrupulous companies, intent on pushing these installations through as quickly and cheaply as possible have no obligation to follow, and are wilfully ignoring, these guidelines.  There is no statutory requirement for them to discuss anything with Scottish Fire and Rescue at the planning application stage.  And there is no specific Scottish advice on siting BESS installations in Scotland.

We call on the Scottish Government to develop Best Practice Guidelines for BESS installations to ensure that the sites selected are the appropriate ones, that there is a need for grid services in that region of the electrical network and we ask them to go one step further than the UK government by making this legislation, which cannot be ignored.

Background story

This petition has been brought about by a recent decision by East Renfrewshire Council to NOT approve a Battery Energy Storage System application put forward by AAH consulting on behalf of Apatura named the “Giffnock BESS”.  The councillors, like the 251 local residents who made objections, identified the significant safety concerns with these installations if they do go wrong.  In this case, the planned site is greenbelt land with no access to a significant water supply, on the main road into the conservation village of Eaglesham adjacent to the very busy Glasgow Southern Orbital and only 170 metres from the River Cart.  Concerningly to the residents, the East Renfrewshire planning officers recommended the proposals were accepted and thankfully this was voted down by the majority of the councillors.  

The only mention the ERC planning officer made regarding fire safety was: “Matters relating to the safe and proper operation of the site lie out with the remit of the Planning Authority and are not therefore material planning considerations. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, provides non-statutory advice to the industry in terms of the design and operation of such facilities.”  There was no acknowledgement that it’s at the design and planning stage that many of the features that make a BESS site safer (e.g. two access roads) need to be addressed.

We know that Eaglesham is not alone – all over Scotland this company and others are making these applications.  The same concerns from locals are listed at every location.  We need to come together to show the Scottish government that there are genuine community concerns about the lack of oversight in the installation of this new technology throughout Scotland.