Meeting hears of opposition to 'untested' Buncrana energy storage project

The risk of fire, water contamination, the threat to wildlife and the proposed use of “untested” technology mean a proposed battery storage near Buncrana should not go ahead, a public meeting has heard.

Residents of the Buncrana area have been urged to object to plans to build Europe’s first iron-air battery storage project  at a site near the town.

FuturEnergy Ireland, a joint venture between Coillte and the ESB has submitted a planning application to Donegal County Council for a long-duration energy storage compound at Ballynahone.

The facility would comprise of a compound of around seven acres containing 248 battery energy storage units in the form of metal shipping containers.

Concerns

More than 150 people attended a meeting about the project that heard that concerns include the potential fire risk, pollution of water supplies,  the potential impact on the local water and road infrastructure and the fact that a plant of the proposed size has not been built anywhere in the world.

Submissions  on the project can be made up to October 27 and more than 700 people have signed an online petition voicing opposition to the plans.

Pollution

John Bradley, vice chair of Buncrana-Fahan Against Untested Battery Storage, highlighted the danger of fire and the risk of pollution of the local water supply due to the chemicals involved in an area where many people use boreholes. He told the meeting in Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana that the project could impact wildlife such as red squirrels, pine martens and the native Irish honey bee.

There are too many doubts about the safety of the project to let it go ahead, he said.

“It's a non-starter. They have not shown any competency and they have not shown any care for the community.”

‘Very speculative’

Matt Cunningham, an Inishowen-based expert in the energy industry, highlighted the lack of  legislation in EU law and standards in Irish law around such projects.

Describing the project as  “very speculative”, he said it would involve 18-metre pylons to act as lightning conductors.

He said that while there is a pressure to reach zero emissions, the project “is not right for this community.” 

“We should not be guinea pigs, “ he said. “If they are not helping us as a community, they should not be here.”

The site had been chosen as it is “cost effective” and not “to do the people of Buncrana any favours”, he said.

If planning permission is granted, he said he believed the site would increase in size gradually.

The risk associated with the project  means “everything there has to be intrinsically safe”. 

The biggest problem with the proposed facility is the novelty of the technology, he said.

“It has not been used on this scale and that’s why the people of Inishowen and Buncrana have to be careful. It's not proven and if it is not proven that is where we all have to be concerned.”

Water resources

The project will require a substantial amount of water and will be a strain on local water resources, he said, adding that there would be  concerns over wastewater management.

The construction would damage local roads and  there would be noise and vibration from the units, when it is in operation, he said.

Values of homes could be affected and he questioned if there would be any benefit to the community.

Environmental concerns

Thomas Lawrence, project officer with the Mill River Conservation Group in Buncrana said it makes no sense to grant planning permission with very little understanding of the science behind it.   

He said the impacts could be great, especially from an environmental point of view. Fish and amphibious creatures require good food resources which are sustained by water quality,” he said.

The proposed project is at headwaters and if something goes wrong the implications "would be felt upstream, downstream, so on and so on,” he said.

“It makes no sense to grant planning for something without the proper habitat assessment.

“If this goes wrong, how great is the impact going to be? There is not enough science behind it.”

Support

Noel Doherty, chair of Buncrana - Fahan Against Untested Battery Storage,  said the group needs all the support it can get.

People living in the area are “small rural farmers” and they fear their livelihoods could be affected in the future,” he said.

“We want to continue with what our ancestors before us gave us and hopefully we can pass it on to someone else.”

He said that while the group has met with the company three times “none of our concerns were anyway near addressed at all."

Following a query from the Inish Times, a spokeswoman for Futurenergy Ireland declined to respond to specific issues and concerns raised at the meeting but said  the company wanted to “respect the role of the Planning Authority in carrying out their statutory duty before commenting further on this project”.

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The spokeswoman said the Ballynahone website www.ballynahoneenergystorage.ie,  has publicly available answers to questions about fire risk, water and site selection among others. 

“This fact file was added to whenever we received questions from members of the local community during our extensive community engagement programme. You will see all the details of our community engagement, including newsletters, updates and community clinics, on the website timeline and in the Project Update section,” she said.

The company says “this new form of​ multi-day storage is made from some of the safest, cheapest and most abundant materials on the planet: low-cost iron, water and air”. 

‘Safety as a key priority’ 

Cillian Trotterdell from Form Energy, the technology provider,  said in a statement that the technology is designed with safety as a key priority. 

“The active components of our iron-air battery system are some of the safest, cheapest, and most abundant materials on the planet — low-cost iron, water, and air. There is no risk of the thermal runaway mechanism common to lithium-ion batteries. With lithium-ion, overcharging, high temperatures, or impact create uncontrolled chain reactions at the cell that lead to fire risk. This mechanism is not possible for our battery, where our active components are submerged in a water-based, non-flammable electrolyte. “This electrolyte is like what you find in AA batteries. In addition, our chemistry does not rely on heavy metals, and the primary components of our battery, aqueous electrolyte and iron, are highly recyclable.”

An image of the proposed energy storage compound at Ballynahone

He said thousands of tests have been carried out “consistently demonstrating safe and reliable operation”. 

“We have had full scale assets representative of our commercial deployments on test in California for more than a year. Our focus on compliance with EU regulations will ensure that we meet or exceed all safety requirements before deployment. 

“For context, Form Energy’s first commercial project will be deployed in Minnesota in early 2025. By the time we reach Ireland, we anticipate having delivered 14 GWh of energy storage capacity to leading utility customers across the U.S. In comparison, the EU added 9 GWh of grid-scale batteries in 2023. Our first battery system to be deployed in Ireland, therefore, will be well-tested and benefit from significant operational experience in the U.S. The 1GWh storage capacity of this asset alone is half the storage capacity of Turlough Hill, Ireland’s largest energy storage asset.”

Objections

 Local councillors who attended the meeting encouraged objections to the project.

Sinn Féin councillor Jack Murray  said the meeting and the campaign were  “hugely impressive” and it is important “that everyone makes an objection”.

“This is a community that will fight and  take it to the very end,” he said.

100% Redress councillor Joy Beard said the project has to be stopped “for the sake of our community, the sake of our families and the sake of our wildlife”.

Fianna Fáil councillor Fionán Bradley said it is “vitally important that everyone does lodge an objection”. 

Aontú representative Mary T Sweeney Anotu said the group will need to fundraise “to get your own experts”.