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Our vision for Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub

In October last year, we launched our initial plans for the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub. The plans included redeveloping the derelict and abandoned site by delivering what we believe could be the UK’s largest current battery storage facility, a crucial part of helping the UK reach its Net Zero ambitions, helping to establish a secure and reliable electricity network for the nation.

As part of our evolving position in the renewable energy sector, we are thrilled to have now sold the Thorpe Marsh project to independent power producer West Burton Energy, which already operates the West Burton power station and battery energy storage system in Nottinghamshire, UK. West Burton Energy will now take the project on through the planning process, construction and into operations. You can find out more about West Burton here.

The Thorpe Marsh Green Energy battery storage project could store up to 2.9GWhrs of energy, enough to supply around 340,000 households with electricity for one day, and would be used to ensure reliable and stable electricity grid operation at times of peak demand, thus helping to improve the UK’s energy security over the long term. In particular, it will be able to store renewable power generated during periods of oversupply of renewable electricity, and then release such power into the national electrical network when there is insufficient supply of renewable generation, such as when it is less windy or sunny.

We are proud to have identified and proposed a project that could deliver one of the world’s largest battery storage plants providing an invaluable use for part of the derelict former power station and we look forward to seeing West Burton Energy bringing this nationally significant scheme to fruition.

Support Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub

We are very excited to announce that, in early January we submitted the first in a number of planning applications required to deliver the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub.

We strongly believe that the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy hub will deliver real social, environmental and economic benefits to the surrounding communities in Barnby Dun, Arskey, Thorpe in Balne and Bentley in the form of jobs, environmental enhancements, local investment as well as a significant community benefits package. You can support the planning application for Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub below.

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Project economic and environmental benefits

£ 920 920

Million

Estimated total project investment

£ 170 170

Million

Local and UK wide estimated investment

£ 7.5 – 11.2

Million

Estimated wages during the 24 to 36 month estimated construction period

200 200

Estimated construction jobs

220 220

Estimated supply chain jobs during the peak of the construction

102 102

Thousand

Equivalent of taking 102,000 petrol cars off the road each year

Offset 242 242

Thousand*

Tonnes of CO2 per annum (by removing the need for fossil fuelled power by storing energy from renewables).*Approximation

2.8

GWh

Energy storage capacity

£ 150-245

Thousand

Wages per annum

£ 3-3.7

Million

Business rates per annum. 75% would accrue to Doncaster Council.

£ 495-865

Thousand

Gross value added per annum of operation

Taking the time to reach out and listen to the local community

WHAT DID WE DO?

In order to reach as many people in the local area as possible we:

Publicised the project providing information to local and national press
Held direct consultation with parish councils
Encouraged direct input from local community members
Held online and social media consultation
Distributed a 12 page leaflet to around 7,000 homes around the site in October 2022
Held a community surgery event on 2nd November 2022 – where our team members met with around 60 local people, including former Thorpe Marsh power station employees.
Over 35 people who had not booked an appointment and turned up on the day, were also seen by the project team.

Your feedback

We were delighted to meet with and listen to the views of local people at our first community surgery events and appreciated the feedback, interaction, and positive nature of the consultation. Common key talking points included:

Concerns about the potential for traffic impacts on the local road network, we explained our plans to mitigate these via reinstatement of the adjacent rail line.
Employment opportunities
Restoration and habitat enhancement opportunities for the site
How the community benefits package could be used, including reducing fuel poverty, supporting community buildings and community groups
Ensuring that the community benefits package delivered by the project is supported by and delivers benefits to the local community and businesses

Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub – what could it look like?

It’s very important for us to let you know what the proposed development could look like. We have designed the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub to ensure that the residential amenity of local residents is not disturbed. Some of the images on rotation below show what the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy Hub would look like from the nearby Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve and what the Thorpe Marsh Green Energy hub would look like from Fordstead Lane once the earthworks activities have taken place. Hopefully you can see that the site is well screened and located adjacent to existing grid infrastructure already present.

Battery storage will be an important technology in realising a more sustainable, independent UK energy market. A large scale battery storage hub such as that proposed at Thorpe Marsh, could enable 2.8GWh of electricity to be stored and discharged when needed to balance the supply and demand for energy in the UK.

Renewable energy is by its very nature intermittent. The times that wind farms and solar farms generate electricity often does not correlate with the times of peak demand. The hub would store electricity in times of low demand and discharge in times of high demand. This reduces the need for gas fired power stations to operate, which in turn saves thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from entering the atmosphere.

We estimate the energy hub would save a huge 265,997 tonnes of CO2 annually – the equivalent of taking 102,000 petrol cars off the road each year.*

*Assumes the energy used to charge the battery is generated with a UK average carbon intensity and displaces energy from a conventional combined cycle gas turbine power station when discharged.

Key Green Energy Hub elements:

Development of an innovative green energy hub consisting of a large scale battery energy storage to help make more efficient use of renewable energy being generated across the UK.
A nationally significant project that Doncaster can be proud of that’s instrumental in the shift towards net zero.
Energy hubs improve the UK’s energy security by supporting the use of more indigenous renewable energy generation such as wind and solar, this will reduce reliance on imported forms of energy such as gas from Russian sources.
Earthworks to existing material on site. These earthworks will provide sufficient footprint for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to be constructed within the site.
On site infrastructure would include containers top house battery technology. There will be other electrical infrastructure such as transformers and construction compounds.
Electricity would be imported and exported to the National Grid via cables to the neighbouring Thorpe Marsh substation.
Refurbishment of former railway sidings to enable the majority of equipment to be delivered via rail.
The creation of direct and indirect employment opportunities in Doncaster during construction and long term operation of the energy hub.

What would this project deliver for the local community?

We believe that the communities that host our projects should share in the benefits. The Thorpe Marsh Project would bring a wide range of social, economic and environmental benefits. We’d love to hear from you on what these benefits could include.

Thorpe Marsh will have a support package of benefits for the local community and local environment. Just like the nearby Marr Wind Farm Community Fund, we would work with the local community to identify priorities.

The community will have a say on what priorities and projects could be supported and funded through the Thorpe Marsh community package. Get in touch and let us know how you think the community could benefit here.