LDES Further Information

What is a Long Duration Energy System (LDES) 

An LDES is commonly defined as a storage system that can discharge energy for a period of over 10 hours, although the Busby (Thorntonhall) solution seems to have an 8-hour output capacity. 

There are four types of LDES, Chemical, Electro Chemical, Mechanical and Thermal. The Busby (Thorntonhall) LDES is likely to be an Electro Chemical i.e. Battery Storage solution. 

How Big is the Busby (Thorntonhall) LDES?

The Busby LDES, located in Thorntonhall, is 86 Acres in size effectively the size of around 50 Football Pitches. The site will be surrounded by a 2.4m high fence and will have a roads infrastructure within it to support the battery containers, cooling units, transformers and, SuDS (sustainable drainage system - designed to manage stormwater locally and provide an immediate 2-hour firefighting solution.)

Will the LDES have the same issues as a BESS?

Currently we are unaware of what type of storage battery system will be used, if the storage medium is changed then there will be different/reduced fire issues for the batteries; but all the other issues remain and will be increased by the scaling up of the plan.

Good evening and Happy New Year to everyone.

I hope is it a good new year for all of us and we can see this LDES disappear away from our greenbelt, but we need everyone’s help to achieve this.

IN 2026, we mark the third year of fighting the proposed industrialisation of our Greenbelt here in Thorntonhall and Busby.

To date:
We can take some relief that the Meikle Dripps Farm BESS plan has not been submitted and passed for development.

We can also take some comfort that we, as an alliance of communities, have made enough noise to delay and stall development and would like to thank everyone for their support.
 

The BESS group has grown over the last few years and Jackton, Busby and to some extent Clarkston have all become involved in the campaign so we will be changing our name to include these communities. 

As far as we understand the Meikle Dripps Farm BESS has been taken off the table as far too many BESS plans have been passed by the ECU in Scotland. Three times the amount required.

The BUSBY LDES

A cynic may argue that the LDES is a re-branded BESS especially after the advice that the climate secretary has given to contractors at their pre application meetings. 

An LDES must go through a slightly different process prior to planning and this process, put in place by OFGEM and NESO assesses connectivity to the National Grid prior to the ECU planning permission being granted.  

LAST WEEK WE ALSO SAW THE DEMISE OF some of Gillian Martin responsibilities. The Scottish Government's Climate Secretary who has been accused of an "embarrassing climbdown" after being removed from looking after massive energy projects, after complaints were made about her clandestine meetings with energy giants. Scottish Ministers are meant to be unbiased when it comes to granting permission for major projects.
 

She has allegedly spoken repeatedly with SSE and other contractors and even suggested that they do more to help local communities in order to get their applications accepted, although she continues to refuse to meet with concerned local groups/communities about these issues.
 

Why am I mentioning this, well, what we are now fighting, is the proposed Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) plan on an 86 acre site, between BUSBY and Thorntonhall located on Meike Dripps Farm, which is huge and totally unsuitable for this area.
 

It is bigger, uglier and will be a massive eye sore. It will take longer to build, and will attract more traffic during and after construction, through Busby, along Peel Road and Waterfoot Road.
 

The Recent NESO Meeting with Community Councils
 

The Scottish element of NESO invited all Scottish Community Councils to a Zoom meeting to discuss LDES planning applications. We were all told that there will be no change to the planning application process and that the NESO Connections timeline process won’t involve local communities. In fact, many of the communities that attended the NESO meeting walked away in disgust.

Let us remember that that the Busby LDES is no different in its supporting infrastructure than the Meikle Dripps Farm BESS there will still be a:

• 2.4m fence potentially now      around an 86-acre plot
• There will still be extensive      lighting and camera systems surrounding the site.
• The LDES itself will resemble a      massive industrial estate surrounded by a prison type security system and,
• 
  

Given the increased size of the location requested in the planning application the LDES will be just as close to the Busby Schools, Churches, Nurseries, Care Homes and residents as the previous BESS and be almost as big as Thorntonhall village.

So, one down one to go, we need everyone to come together and continue to help fight this dreadful proposed industrialisation of our greenbelt. 

In short, our beautiful environment would be destroyed forever.

If you can speak to your neighbours and ask them to email me with their email address so that we can keep everyone informed. bess@thorntonhallbess.com

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Finally, a quick request, is there a graphic designer out there that could help the group mock up an image of the proposed 86-acre site so that everyone can visualise what is coming our way if we are complacent.

 “People Power is needed, this is our community, and the greenbelt needs to be saved now.
 

Kind Regards,
 

The Busby Jackton and Thorntonhall Community Alliance LDES Action Group.
 

(Information correct as of 21 Jan 2026)’