Opposition to battery storage site

Perthshire residents are opposing a “blot on the landscape” Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) scheme by the shores of scenic Loch Tay.

- ALASTAIR MCNEILL

Madrid-based Opdenergy have submitted plans for a 49.9MW storage facility, comprising 15 battery units the size of shipping containers, at a site near Morenish which the company insist can be developed “without causing significant environmental impact”.

However, a handful of nearby residents, and Glen Lyon and Loch Tay Community Council, have lodged objections with PKC over the renewables scheme.

The Tir Artair site west of Morenish is next to the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area as well as nearby Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve and SSSI. It is also within the Loch Tay Local Landscape Area.

Glen Lyon and Loch Tay Community Council chairperson Susan Dolan-Betney states in the group's objection: “The natural environment is not adequately valued. The [submitted] landscape and visual overview (LVO) minimizes and underplays the visual impact the proposal will have.

“It will be highly visible from the far side of the loch, the loch itself, parts of Killin and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, and some aspects Ben Lawers and its associated mountains.