Banks Renewables announced it is expecting to invest over £100 million in developing Pond Energy Park, which will see a section of an industrial park near Bathgate re-designed into a two-hectare battery site.

“Expected to be submitted for planning permission later this year, Pond Battery Storage will have an export capacity of 200 megawatts over two hours,” said Banks Renewables.

“When fully charged, this project will be enough to supply the average demands of 600,000 homes for that two hour period – more homes than Edinburgh and Glasgow combined.”

County Durham family firm the Banks Group announced earlier this week that Banks Renewables, its renewable energy division, is being acquired by Brookfield, the Canadian asset manager with $850 billion of assets under management.

News reports speculated the deal is worth almost $1 billion.

“The new site is set to deliver opportunities for local businesses in areas like construction, groundworks, civils and remediation; with Banks’ flagship ‘Connect2Renewables’ initiative prioritising local businesses as much as possible when awarding contracts on their sites,” added Banks Renewables.

Banks is known for its onshore wind projects in South Lanarkshire – including the construction of the UK’s tallest and most efficient onshore wind turbines at its Kype Muir Extension site near Strathaven.

Banks Renewables projects director Gordon Thomson said: “The proposed Pond Battery Storage project in West Lothian marks a very exciting time for us here at Banks Renewables.

“Battery storage projects like this are becoming increasingly important in Scotland’s push for net zero.

“When it’s not sunny or windy, battery energy storage can allow us to dip into the reserves by using pre-generated energy in the batteries to supply to the national grid and reducing our reliance on energy derived from imported fossil fuels.”