Industrial battery at Swindon council waste centre never used

An industrial-sized rechargeable battery installed at a council waste and recycling facility three years ago to help power the site has never been switched on.

Councillor Chris Watts, of Labour-run Swindon Borough Council, blamed the previous Conservative administration for the stalled project at Waterside Park waste and recycling plant.

He said the battery was never connected to the National Grid as planned due to “financial pressures” but there were now plans to do so.

Swindon Conservative group leader Gary Sumner said: “Our understanding is that the 2.5-MW solar farm and the 850-KW battery at Waterside were correctly installed and signed-off by senior council officers as fully operational.”

The battery was due to be hooked up and connected to the Barnfield Park solar farm in 2022 so it could store the facility’s excess energy, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Watts said: “I do not have full visibility into why the project was never commissioned, as the officers and councillors originally involved are no longer with the council.

“However, it is likely that when the battery system failed during the commissioning stage, the limited resources and financial pressures in the summer of 2022 led to the project being mothballed.”

A report to the council’s Build a Greener Swindon Policy and Scrutiny Committee revealed the battery was never connected, a discovery made in 2024.

Meanwhile, Sumner continued: “We have asked council officers questions and have yet to receive any responses.

“We sincerely hope councillors have not been misled, and if we have then someone needs to be held accountable.”

Work is under way by the council to see if the battery can be used following a visit by a specialist contractor.