Representation by Brian Prince
- Date submitted
- 17 March 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The main concern I have is the tying up of good agricultural land for 40 years that may be needed for food production. This land is capable of producing root crops such as carrots onions or potatoes which with the current world troubles may be desperately needed for feeding the British population. I'm all for solar power and batteries to store the energy generated from the sun but I have major concerns about the use of Lithium-Ion batteries for 3 reasons. 1) If there should be an unexpected surge of electricity, it could cause a battery cell to catch fire then once one cell ignites, the likelihood of a whole container of these Lithium-Ion batteries having a massive fire that cannot be extinguished is a grave concern for residents that are close by due to the toxic fumes that would be given off. 2) The deterioration of the Lithium-Ion batteries gives a projected lifespan of only 10 years, and their efficiency over that time is known to reduce with repeated charging and discharging. 3) The raw materials used to manufacture the Lithium-Ion batteries are mined in countries that have very poor human rights laws, this cannot be ethically correct when knowing they will need to be replaced perhaps several times during the 40-year design life of the solar / battery system proposed by Sunnica. There are alternatives that are much safer to use that do not drop off in efficiency such as Vanadium Flow Batteries. If the proposal does get passed by the Secretary of State, I think there should be an insistence that only safe long-life batteries should be used on such a large-scale project as this.