Representation by David Andrew White
- Date submitted
- 20 March 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Wish to comment to query EMC issues to radio communications where I am the primary licensed user of the frequency bands concerned I'd like to see how the developer will ensure that there is no radio frequency interference from the installation. My concern is with interference to the shortwave and VHF amateur bands of which I am a primary licensed user. Solar cells and their associated inverters cause interference to HF and VHF radio frequency services if they are not adequately screened and correctly installed. This is fairly common in domestic installations due to the woefully inadequate policing of equipment standards - particularly in equipment imported from China - and the slipshod actions of many installers who simply have no knowledge of or concern for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues. Let me quote an example from this application at Fareham: www.fareham.gov.uk/casetrackerplanning/ApplicationDetails.aspx?reference=P/16/0557/DP/B&uprn=34455620026099NW This is for a cross-channel interconnector though in may ways it's a similar interference risk since the installation also uses inverters to convert high voltage DC into 50Hz AC for connection to the National Grid. Specifically the permission from the council includes the following text: Radio Frequency Interference 14. No development relating to the erection of the converter station buildings shall take place until details setting out how the converter station buildings will be designed and implemented to ensure that any electromagnetic disturbance arising from the use of the site does not prevent radio and telecommunications equipment or other equipment outside the site from operating as intended, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the local P/16/0557/DP/A STUBBINGTON NATIONAL GRID IFA2 LTD AGENT: NATIONAL GRID Policies planning authority. The development of the Converter Station Development shall not be carried out otherwise than in accordance with the approved details. REASON: To prevent radio frequency interference to users of surrounding land and buildings. This is precisely the type of text which should be inserted into any permission given for large scale solar installations such as Cottam. In the case of the Fareham installation, inverters and associated electronics have been chosen according to adequate standards and have been installed in metal screened buildings adequately so that no interference emerges from the site. This also needs to be the case at Cottam. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) also contain inverters for grid connections and these need to be similarly screened to ensure that no interference is caused. An example BESS is the one at the Pelham project near Bishop's Stortford. The BESS itself is housed in metal containers and the only way that interference could leak out is possibly by the outgoing cables - but according to my contacts in the area there is no evidence of this, so apparently what they have done is adequate. Electromagnetic compatibility issues are actually fairly easy to solve with good practice by competent engineers and by choosing equipment that actually meets the TUV standards as opposed to fraudulently marked substandard junk from China. My concern is that policing of EMC standards and radio spectrum pollution is very lax in the UK so the Planning Inspectorate need to impose the correct conditions in any permission granted. I would welcome any communication from the developer and if they can point me to a reference site with similar technology so that I can go and do my own tests I'd really appreciate that.