Sunderland council has approved plans to build a “battery energy storage facility” on a greenbelt site next to Foxcover Lane.
The land in question sits just north of the lane near the roundabout connecting Chester Road and the A19.
The 30MW battery energy storage system is designed to “stabilise the power supply.”
This includes a “capability to store energy temporarily when there is a surplus of renewable generation, thereby enabling the National Grid to avoid instructing the wind/solar generators to stop generating (and making interruption payments as a result, which are borne ultimately by customers”.
Councillors met at City Hall to discuss the plans on Monday and voted unanimously to approve the development.
A council report said the “wider environmental, public and economic benefits” of the proposal would outweigh harm to the Green Belt.
Due to the amount of development proposed on Green Belt land however, councillors had to refer the application to the Secretary of State, with government expected to make a final decision on the plan in future.