Renewable energy company RES has been given planning approval for a 99.9MW battery in County Durham after the Council’s planning committee voted to approve the scheme.

Spennymoor Energy Storage System is on land to the south of the existing electrical substation on Thinford Lane.

Alan McMahon, Head of Energy Storage at RES, said: “We are very pleased that Durham County Council has chosen to back this important infrastructure, which has been carefully sited and designed to optimise the land available for development.”
Spennymoor Energy Storage System has been designed to include planting of new native woodland, species-rich grassland and the creation of a pond, which will provide a plentiful source of food and shelter for a range of fauna species. Invertebrate boxes, hedgehog houses and bat boxes are also proposed with all of these measures leading to a biodiversity net gain of 25%.