A green energy firm has been told its planned energy storage units in the Herefordshire countryside would be in “a high risk area” beside a key piece of gas infrastructure.

Novus Renewable Services has applied for planning permission to install an energy storage system and substation on two hectares of farmland beside the Peterstow Gas Compressor Station, which lies in open country west of Ross-on-Wye.

It would share with the gas station a 750m-long private access track from the main A4137 south of the village of St Owen's Cross.

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The proposed plant would store surplus energy from intermittent renewable sources such as solar and wind before returning it to the National Grid as needed.

A high-voltage line already crosses the site and a transmission tower stands within it.

The layout of the facility has already gone through several iterations following technical advances and feedback from the public, after letters and flyers were sent to addresses within a kilometre of the site and to local parish councils, the application says.

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But National Gas Transmission plc, which owns and operates Britain’s gas network, has since said it would “exercise its right to place a holding objection to the proposal, which will cross our high-pressure gas pipeline”.

“Power sources that can provide significant DC faults, such as battery energy storage sites, are of particular concern to us,” the firm said in its submission, adding that the site was “within the High Risk zone from our apparatus”.

Comments on the application, numbered 231390, can be made until June 16.