A COUNCIL-OWNED facility which can provide power to 35,000 Somerset homes still isn’t operational months after it should have been up and running.

In 2018 South Somerset District Council invested £9.84M of taxpayers’ money into a battery storage energy facility on the outskirts of Taunton.

The site was due to be fully operational by the end of March, with the council promising it would generate £1M a year in income for front-line services.

Nearly eight months on, the facility still hasn’t been connected to the grid – something which the council says is “out of its control”.

Despite the delay, around £2.5M extra is being poured into the site, in a bid to increase the return the council will see from its investment.

The original facility was designed to produce up to 25MW of power for up to one hour – enough power to light 35,000 homes across the country, making it one of the largest storage sites in the country.

The batteries – which are housed in shipping containers – store power from the grid when it is not needed and can be sold back for a profit when demand is higher.

The council is working with its partner Opium Power Ltd to add capacity for a further 5MW – meaning it will earn more money from selling power back to the grid.

The council said the site would be operational by mid-December, blaming the delay on legal agreements taking longer to secure than was anticipated.

A spokesman said: “The cabling to connect the site to the National Grid has to go through third party land belonging to the National Grid, and into a Western Power Distribution (WPD) substation to enable it to be connected and the site to be energised.

“Legal agreements needed between WPD and National Grid across this land have taken longer for those parties to negotiate than anticipated.

“These are now complete, so that the final link of cabling can be completed. Final testing of the connections is being undertaken.

“This is out of the control of SSDC Opium Power Ltd, so we are waiting to get the green light from our partners to be energised.

“The estimated date for energisation is likely to be around December 16.”

The additional 5MW will be installed on the same site at a cost of around £2.5M, which is being drawn from the council’s investment fund.

The newer part of the facility will use the same cabling connections as the existing part, meaning there should be no further delays in getting it fully operational.

The council said National Grid had agreed to delay its initial contract for selling power back to the network due to the delays in testing.

A spokesman said: “The development to maximise the site for another 5MW will commence in late-2019 and we hope to be energised within 12 months.

“This additional storage facility will benefit from some of the infrastructure already in place for the first 25MW and should be a swifter project.”

Councillor Sara Dyke, portfolio holder for the environment, said the project would help to reduce the district’s dependence on fossil fuels.

She said: “This is a great project to demonstrate just how important the environment is to our council.

“It highlights our commitment of taking immediate steps to deliver on our ambitious objectives, as we move to reduce our carbon dependence for the benefit of all.”

Councillor John Clark, portfolio holder for income generation, added: “Not only is this a strong project under our environment strategy, but a sensible and viable business decision to generate further income from our assets, within our balanced investment portfolio, ensuring that we can deliver services to our communities for the future in a sustainable manner.”

The council has not confirmed how much it expects to earn from the upgraded site each year, citing commercial sensitivity.