Culham Science Centre to get major new electricity facility

The proposals have been submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council for a battery energy storage system with a 500 megawatt facility in Culham Science Centre. 

Planning papers say the facility will be connected to the Culham Jet National Grid substation.

A total of seven hectares of the 26.8 hectare arable farmland site is set to be built over with the remaining amount set aside to "re-establish" a registered park and garden with new woodland and grassland habitats.

A planning paper says: "Battery storage is a key part of UK energy strategy and provides the National Grid with balancing services to help accommodate increasing levels of renewable energy generation."

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Oliver Troup, development lead at Statera Energy, added: “Aside from the national benefit short duration storage provides in a flexible grid system, Statera’s Culham BESS will support the expansion of Culham Campus, already home to 45 businesses and a leading centre for nuclear fusion.

Culham Science Centre fusion facility. (Image: UKAEA.)

"Finding sites that work for this type of scheme is very challenging.

"It’s even harder to find a site that directly benefits such a unique science and technology park.”

The Culham Science Centre describes itself as 'one of Europe’s leading science and technology centres' with its campus hosting more than 45 commercial businesses which include start-ups and major international organisations.

A battery energy storage system is a type of rechargeable energy storage system that uses batteries to store and distribute energy in the form of electricity.