Representation by Graham Gordon
- Date submitted
- 24 February 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My Objection to Sunnica - Loss of residential amenities, The noise from the existing (small) existing battery storage is already noticeable and a constant feature despite a distance of ~1,500m from the storage location to our property. I can only assume this will be worse during summer months as the cooling systems kick in. Disruption caused during construction. The traffic increase and constant noise from piledrivers was a constant feature during the first exploratory phase - The construction from this development is an estimated two-years. Destruction of the local environment and ambiance, as a resident, we elected to buy our properties here (vs a larger town or city)- we did not chose to live next to whatever the Sunnica project will morph into, specifically the connection to the Burwell substation and resulting noise. Risk There are currently no guidelines for the protection of BESS storage. The best way of cutting through the noise surrounding this is the fact that insurers (my area of work experience) are limiting exposure due to: - Limited public fire test data demonstrating fire behavior - Limited public fire test data related to large format batteries - Limited incident data on large-scale (grid size) - Methods of thermal runaway protection - Post-fire incident response and recovery procedures Financial Project Risk The ownership structure seems complex and opaque (for example one Sunnica JV party has already accepted, on the 23rd April, a fixed charge over all business assets from BEF – lending of almost last resort). It looks a mess. If it goes wrong who picks up the site(s) restoration etc? The ultimate potential owners Solaer SL are so far financially removed from the project. Would it not be more transparent if the group were managing this directly? The root cause of much of the issues around public consultation seems to be the resources (both financial and people) required to manage stakeholder relations. See SUNNICA ENERGY FARM INADEQUACY OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION. https://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Appendix4-RepresentationfromSNTSCommunityActionGroupAoCR28Nov21rev1.pdf Simply, if they can't resource to manage communication. How can they manage construction? Kind regards, Graham