Almholme Energy Hub

Welcome to the Almholme Energy Hub project website. We are proposing a 1025 megawatt (MW) Energy Storage System (ESS) and a 49.9MW Solar development on land at Almholme, Doncaster.  

The development site covers approximately 173 acres located on land approximately 350 m north west of the hamlet of Almholme, approximately 1.4 km east of Shaftholme, approximately 1.3 km north of Arksey. The Site currently comprises three open agricultural parcels of land with hedgerows and farm tracks splitting the Site. Overhead electrical lines runs in an east to west direction through the centre of the Site. 

The proposal would support the UK’s transition to Net Zero and provide flexibility to the supply of electricity in terms of where it can be stored on the network and when it can be utilised. Solar is one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation, however, is intermittent. Energy Storage Systems allow for cheap solar energy to be generated and stored during time of low demand and then released at high demand. 

The site has been carefully selected and designed through a detailed assessment process considering heritage, landscape, ecological and environmental designations, access, flooding, transport and agricultural land quality.  We have engaged a team of expert consultants to provide advice on the project. 

An important aspect of the development is engaging with the local community. We held a consultation event on Tuesday 15th August at The School House, High St, Arksey, Doncaster DN5 0SF. It was great to discuss this project with you and gather feedback on what you think of the project.  

The project has now been submitted to Doncaster City Council and all documentations can be reviewed on the Council’s planning portal using the reference 23/02482/FULM 

Our Community Promise 

We believe it is important that local communities share in the benefit our project brings. For all our energy storage projects we offer a community benefit fund, which can be used to support local projects and priorities. We will work with our host communities to agree the best way to provide and administer that fund. 

Every year Almholme Energy Hub will contribute £50 per MW of energy storage and £250 per MW of solar installed to the community benefit fund. A further £20 per MW of energy storage and £100 per MW of solar installed for a charitable donation annually for the entire operational lifetime.   

The site has been carefully selected after reviewing land available within a 2.5km radius of Thorpe Marsh Power Station and the design is informed through the ongoing detailed assessment process.  

The proposal will connect to the National Grid via an underground cable from the substation on site to Thorpe Marsh Power Station.  

The site currently benefits from mature trees and hedgerows around the boundary of the site. There are overhead lines across the site as well. We have strategically located our substation behind mature trees and adjacent to the railway line to limit its visibility. Further hedgerows are proposed around the perimeter of the site and along Almholme lane to increase the screening of the site. A 4m high bund and additional woodland planting will be located to the west of the ESS to prevent views of the ESS from Shaftholme Road.  

The storage containers are distributed through the site in pairs with an associated cabin, containing power conversion equipment (MV Skid). Groups of ESS units are connected together into a transformer bay that ultimately feed back to the overall site substation. 

The solar site will be made suitable for grazing within the fenced area and seeded with an appropriate grassland mix that is shade tolerant. The site proposes an arable field margin surrounding the solar sites as well as shrub planting to increase the biodiversity on the site. 

The full landscape proposal is located here.

Solar Panels 

Bifacials photovoltaic solar panels are proposed throughout the site. They will have a maximum height of 3.1m and a minimum of 0.8m from the ground to allow for grazing. 

Energy Storage  

The development would primarily consist of liquid cooled batteries, the size of a storage container. 

Medium Voltage (MV) Skid  

The MV Skid is required to convert the Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) via an inverter. 

Transformers  

The purpose of these transformers is to raise and lower the voltage for export and import to the National Grid. 

Substation   

The main substation contains the largest items of plant, consisting of a Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) hall, transformers and filters. It has a footprint of approximately two acres. 

Access Tracks  

Access tracks would be established across the site. During the construction phase a construction compound would be established in the vicinity of the site access off the A683. 

Security  

A fence would be installed around the perimeter of the development at a height of approximately two metres. The site would be monitored by inward facing CCTV cameras. 

Construction Traffic 

A new site access will be created along Fordstead Lane with a new internal access track leading to the Solar Farm and ESS. 

All HGVs would travel along Fordstead Lane / Almholme Lane through the village of Arksey where it becomes Station Road / Arksey Lane to and from the A19 and from where the M62, the A1(M) / A1 and the M18 would all be accessible. 

Operational Traffic 

Once operational, the site will be visited for occasional routeing maintenance, typically 1-2 a month by a light good vehicle. In the first five operational years, regular visits will be made by landscape contractors and ecologists to monitor and manager completed landscape works.

Our planning application and design is supported by a number of technical assessments which are available to review as part of the planning application. The following surveys are being undertaken; 

• Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment 
• Flood Risk Assessment 
• Agricultural Land Classifications 
• Arboriculture Impact Assessments 
• Heritage/Archaeological Impact Assessment 
• Transport Assessment & Construction Traffic Management Plan 
• Noise Impact Assessments 
• Ecological Impact Assessment including surveys for bats, breeding birds, wintering birds, reptiles, otter & water voles, hedgerow regulations assessments, and great crested newts. 

These are all available on Doncaster’s Planning Portal and can be viewed using the reference 23/02482/FULM. 

The UK has a legally binding target to achieve net-zero by 2050 and has committed to fully decarbonising the electricity network by 2035. Doncaster City Council declared a climate emergency in September 2019. This results in many low carbon and renewable developments being needed across the UK. 

The UK Government realises the true potential solar provision can have in renewable energy generation, acknowledging not enough is being done to both promote and allow for increased solar provision across the country. In response to this, the Government has published a paper ‘Powering Up Britain – Energy Security Plan’ (April 2023), which states: 

“The UK has huge deployment potential for solar power, and we are aiming for 70 gigawatts of ground and rooftop capacity together by 2035. This amounts to a five-fold increase on current installed capacity. We need to maximise deployment of both types of solar to achieve our overall target. 

… 

Ground-mounted solar is one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation and is readily deployable at scale. The government seeks large scale ground-mount solar deployment across the UK, looking for development mainly on brownfield, industrial and low and medium grade agricultural land. Solar and farming can be complementary, supporting each other financially, environmentally and through shared use of land. We consider that meeting energy security and climate change goals is urgent and of critical importance to the country, and that these goals can be achieved together with maintaining food security for the UK. We encourage deployment of solar technology that delivers environmental benefits, with consideration for ongoing food production or environmental improvement. The government will therefore not be making changes to categories of agricultural land in ways that might constrain solar deployment. 

The government considers that there is a strong need for increased solar deployment, as reflected in the latest draft of the Energy National Policy Statements. We recognise that as with any new development, solar projects may impact on communities and the environment. The planning system allows all views to be taken into account when decision makers balance local impacts with national need.” 

The government will also be publishing a solar roadmap in 2024 which will set out a clear step by step deployment trajectory to achieve the five-fold increase of providing up to 70GW of solar by 2035 to demonstrate the government’s clear commitment to the sector. 

Solar is, therefore, readily deployable at very large scales, one of the cheapest forms of renewable electricity generation, can be sited above biodiversity enhancements such as wildflower meadows, can be done in unison with farming and is at the core of the Governments aims to increase renewable energy production. 

Renewable energy is characterised by its intermittent generation profile across multiple sites. This is an inherent characteristic of renewable energy generation and an inevitable consequence of having multiple sites across the country, engaging a number of different technologies, each of which have different generation profiles throughout each day and night, and the seasons. In some instances there may be an ‘excess’ of electricity being generated and supplied to the grid; more than is required at a particular time. At other times there may not be enough. Once operational, the Energy Storage Scheme (ESS) would have the ability to respond rapidly to the short-term variations in demand and fluctuations in the output from renewable energy sources. 

ESS projects provide a solution to this. ESS sites, like Almholme Energy Hub, receive electricity from the grid at times of peak generation and can be used to manage that generation profile, releasing electricity back into the grid at times it is needed most.   

Without these kind of ESS facilities the electricity generated by renewable energy developments would essentially be curtailed at a time where there is an indisputable urgent national need for energy. The consequence of this is the need to manage an occasionally insufficient and intermittent supply, leading to increased prices, increased additional carbon emissions through additional generation required from non-renewable sources, and reliance less secure sources from abroad, or fossil fuel fired generation which is still used to support the network at times of stress.