SAE Renewables (LON:SAE) has announced that it has submitted an application for Section 36 consent to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit for a battery energy storage system (BESS) project of up to 300MW, sized for up to 4 hours duration (1.2GWh). The project, named “Mey BESS”, will be located inland, 5.5km southwest of SAE’s MeyGen tidal project, 0.5 km southeast of the village of Mey in Caithness and located adjacent to the planned and fully consented SSE Gills Bay 132kV substation project.
SAE has secured all the necessary land rights and 287MW of both import and export grid capacity to allow for the BESS project to be built. The grid capacity is planned to be shared between Mey BESS and the Company’s MeyGen tidal array with 207MW being utilised exclusively for BESS and the balance of 80MW secured for the expansion of the MeyGen tidal stream project. The consent application is sized at 300MW to allow for further expansion from 207MW to 300MW which would be subject to future grid applications.
The grid connection and all infrastructure is consented and ready to be built, with an anticipated completion of April 2027.
It is expected that the Mey BESS project will initially be built using 2 hour duration batteries to give an output capacity of 414MWh, with the site layout sized in the planning application to allow for expansion using 4-hour duration batteries of up to 300MW/1.2GWh.
The development rights in the project are held by Mey Energy Storage Limited, which is owned 84% by SAE and 16% by Scottish Enterprise.
SAE Renewables have significant presence and operations experience in the local area, having been operating the MeyGen tidal array in Caithness for many years.
The dedicated project page will be available at: www.saerenewables.com/mey-BESS
