Mini-power station bid for Blackpool

The bid, from Lark Energy of Lincolnshire, would result in a 10MW generator facility and 12MW battery storage being installed on vacant land off Amy Johnson Way at Blackpool Business Park.

It will be a small scale power plant designed to top up the National Grid when demand was high, a situation which usually happens during daytime in winter.

The company said in a report: “The installation Lark Energy is proposing to install would provide the National Grid with emergency electricity supply in milliseconds.

“This is the last form of defence against an electricity blackout in the UK.”

The firm, which is best known for its solar panel array power stations, said this type of small top-up facility was increasingly needed as the country transitions towards the use of intermittent renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.

Blackpool Council’s planning committee must rule on the application, but if successful the company believes construction would take around 20 weeks.

The power station would be mostly automatic so it is thought unlikely to result in any significant employment once construction is finished.