An Aberdeen church congregation is looking to block a huge energy transition project over fears that adding one vehicle per month to the road will cause accidents.
REPD - a renewable energy business delivering utlity-sclae solar and battery storage solutions across the UK - had been seeking to build an energy storage facility the size of a football pitch just off the A92 Parkway, at Persley.
Field, who were formerly developing the site, handed the project over the REPB about a month ago.
However, Danestone Congregational Church has blown a fuse over the impact the plans will have on road safety, despite council roads chiefs confirming that just one lorry will visit the unmanned site each month.
With a storage capacity of 49.9 megawatts, up to 10,000 homes could be powered for a full day by the battery storage (BESS) installation.
Following a lengthy public consultation, the plans have now been lodged with Aberdeen City Council by Pegasus Group on behalf of Persley Croft BESS Ltd.
Objections
The plans have attracted strong objections form the local community over traffic and safety fears.
In a lengthy objection letter written on behalf of her congregation, Rev Anne Robertson said the community "strongly objects" to the plans and has urged the council to reject them.
"The location of the proposed entrance to the site, at the crawler lane of the busy Parkway (A92) is a known accident spot, with 15 reported collisions in the past three years," she said.
"Creating an entrance road at that location, in a 50mph zone, is likely to increase the number of collisions."
The entrance at the centre of safety fears
However, Michael Cowie, on behalf of the city council's roads development team, confirmed that just one vehicle per month would visit the site, once completed.
He said: "It is noted that and confirmed, similar to that of other BESS sites, that upon completion the site shall not generate any daily vehicular trips in/out of the site given there shall be no physical presence on site, however there is an estimated maximum of one maintenance vehicle trip per month required."
The church congregation has also raised concerns about BESS sites catching fire in South Korea and the UK, adding that it is "unacceptable to bring this potential risk into such a highly populated residential community."
The plans are expected to go before the city council's planning committee later this summer.