A ‘BATTERY Box’ energy storage unit is being proposed for a corner of Wellington Rugby Club’s ground next to Beech Grove and Corams Lane.

The ‘box’ would store about 800kWh of electricity with the potential to power 200 homes for four hours if there was a disruption to the local supply.

It would take up about the equivalent of two car parking spaces and be protected by an eight feet high palisade fence.

The project has been proposed by London-based AMP Clean Energy, which is is developing ‘Battery Boxes’ across the country to provide ‘a low carbon, flexible and de-centralised store of electricity that benefits local communities, businesses, and homes’.

AMP senior development manager Ashleigh Boyce said the company already had more than 225 of them and provided service and maintenance to more than 1,000 customer sites nationwide.

Mr Boyce said the boxes imported electricity from the local network when demand was low or when there were high levels of renewable energy available, and then exported it back to the grid when needed during periods of high demand.

He said: “This provides a solution to the growing need for network flexibility and helps address grid reliability issues prompted by an increase of intermittent wind and solar generation.

“Every day, we walk past the infrastructure on which we rely for our modern lives, often without noticing it.

“Sub-stations, overhead power lines, telephone kiosks, 4G masts, natural gas kiosks, and water pumping stations.

“‘Battery Boxes’ are part of a new era on infrastructure that we will need to support our changing lives and shift to net zero.”

Mr Boyce said the UK’s electricity system was traditionally dominated by a small number of large power stations fuelled by coal and natural gas but it was now becoming increasingly supplied by intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

He said: “Renewable power generation does not always match when the demand for electricity is highest.

“To overcome this, we need a more flexible energy system that allows us to shift renewable energy to the periods of the day when the demand for power is at its greatest.

“As the UK builds more and more renewable projects, increasingly there are times when the amount of renewable electricity on the system is greater than the demand for it.

“If we do not provide flexible solutions to the growing electricity demand on local networks, the network operators will have to upgrade and reinforce networks.

“‘Battery Boxes’ can delay or even negate this reinforcement.

“Without ‘Battery Boxes’ we will see disruption as roads are dug up to replace cables and increasing bills as the costs of new sub-stations are added to bills.”

Mr Boyce said each ‘Battery Box’ would save about 160 tonnes of carbon each year, or 4,800 tonnes of carbon over its 30-year lifecycle.

Somerset Council, which has set itself a target of determining the planning application by January 23, is asking for any public comments on the plans to be submitted by December 20.