SAE Renewables has announced the submission of an application for Section 36 consent to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit. This application is for a battery energy storage system (BESS) project, named “Mey BESS”, with a capacity of up to 300MW and a duration of up to 4 hours (1.2GWh). The project will be situated inland, 5.5km southwest of SAE’s MeyGen tidal project, and 0.5 km southeast of the village of Mey in Caithness. It will be adjacent to the planned and fully consented SSE Gills Bay 132kV substation project.
SAE has secured all necessary land rights and 287MW of both import and export grid capacity for the BESS project. This grid capacity is planned to be shared between Mey BESS and the company’s MeyGen tidal array, with 207MW utilised exclusively for BESS and the remaining 80MW allocated for the expansion of the MeyGen tidal stream project. The consent application allows for an initial 300MW capacity to facilitate future expansion from 207MW to 300MW, which would require additional grid applications.
The grid connection and all necessary infrastructure have already received consent, and construction is anticipated to be completed by April 2027. Initially, the Mey BESS project is expected to use 2-hour duration batteries to achieve an output capacity of 414MWh. The site layout in the planning application has been designed to accommodate an expansion to 4-hour duration batteries, achieving a capacity of up to 300MW/1.2GWh.
Mey Energy Storage Limited, which holds the development rights to the project, is owned 84% by SAE and 16% by Scottish Enterprise. SAE Renewables has a significant presence and operational experience in the local area, having operated the MeyGen tidal array in Caithness for many years.
For more information, a dedicated project page will be available at www.saerenewables.com/mey-BESS.
SAE Renewables Limited (LON:SAE) was founded in 2005 as a supplier of tidal stream turbines, SAE quickly grew to include development of tidal stream projects and is the majority owner of MeyGen, the world’s largest tidal stream energy project.
