Draft Grid Scale Energy Storage System Planning Guidance

Grid scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are a fundamental part of the UK’s move toward a sustainable energy system. This guidance supersedes and seeks to build on the original guidance document that was published in 2023 (Version 1). The guidance is based upon a range of supporting materials including academic research, national and international standards, case studies, and industry guidance. The content of this guidance is the result of analysis of that supporting material, with subsequent professional judgement applied.

This document has been produced for the use of Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) and Local Authority Planners to support community and firefighter safety. In referring to this guidance, NFCC seeks to support FRS to ensure they are aware of the location of all grid scale BESS in their area. This is to allow for effective operational pre-planning to take place, ensuring that FRS requirements are proportionate to the hazard and risk whilst not being overly burdensome to the developer of the BESS installation. It is hoped that the guidance will promote consistency of approach across FRS.

We recommend that you thoroughly read the document before completing your review. The document has been submitted as a Word document with line numbers, please indicate the appropriate line numbers in your response.  Please provide sufficient detail in your comments for us to make appropriate amendments.

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The link to the survey is here.

This survey will close end of the day Thursday 22 August 2024. If you have any questions, please contact the NFCC Policy team.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this consultation.