Plans for £200m hub to store excess 'green electricity' at world-renowned Knepp Estate near Horsham

Energy company Clearstone has worked together with specialists at Knepp – known world-wide for its rewilding and nature restoration – to design an energy hub that will integrate with sustainable farming operations on the estate.

By storing excess electricity produced by solar and wind farms, the hub – known as the Dragon’s Green Energy Hub – would increase the availability of green energy for use in homes and businesses across West Sussex.

Clearstone Energy says it expects to invest around £200 million into developing the project with an operational start date of 2031, subject to achieving planning permission.

Clearstone say the hub is an important net zero infrastructure project that would displace the equivalent of 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from gas fired power plants each year and support the goal of a zero emissions UK electricity supply by 2035.

The company says it is offering a comprehensive community funding package amounting to £50,000 a year – more than £2 million in total – to ensure that the local community benefits directly from the project.

The package includes renewable energy and energy efficiency retrofit projects for community buildings closest to the site, energy efficiency support for local people living in fuel poverty and support for community projects.

The proposals are currently at the pre-application public consultation stage. Local residents and elected representatives are being asked for their feedback on draft plans and the community funding package before the submission of a formal planning application later this year. A public exhibition is being held at The Andrew Hall, Red Lane, Shipley, on Tuesday April 23 from 2 - 7pm where local residents can meet the project development team. There is a project website at www.clearstoneenergy.com/project/dragonsgreen

Digby Willoughby, senior development at Clearstone, said: “Battery storage projects such as the Dragon’s Green Energy Hub will help us make the most of our wind and solar farms and reduce our reliance on gas fired power stations. They have a really important role to play in the UK achieving its climate change targets.”

Knepp estate manager Jason Emrich said: “Recognising the pressing need to address climate change and promote renewable energy, Knepp is taking steps to support the nation's net-zero targets through the development of this battery energy storage facility.”

He said they had worked with Clearstone on a scheme that “would connect isolated woodland, create wetland and still enable periodic grazing and the benefits that animals and scrubland bring to biodiversity.”

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Clearstone maintains that battery energy storage has a key role to play in reducing carbon emissions in Sussex and across the UK by maximising the availability of renewable energy and reducing reliance on fossil fuel power stations and imported fuels.

When wind and solar generation is higher than household and business demand, such as overnight, the excess energy is used to charge the battery. When demand is higher than renewable energy generation, typically in the early evening, the battery discharges to balance supply and demand.

With little storage capacity in the UK, wind turbines are currently turned off when renewable energy generation is higher than electricity demand.