Gas-powered energy plants and a battery storage facility will be built at sites across Cumbria.

Balance Power Projects applied to build the gas-powered plants in Aspatria, Penrith and near Workington and the battery facility in Penrith.

The plants will be erected at Aspatria Business Park, land at Stainburn Road, Great Clifton, land at Manelli House, Penrith and land at Calthwaite, also Penrith.

Professional services firm WYG has been working with the St Helens-based firm on the schemes.

The plants are designed to stabilise energy supply as the UK moves to more renewable energy.

They do not operate all the time but begin generating electricity to the National Grid when there is a drop in energy.

It allows greater contribution from intermittent renewable energy generators, including onshore wind farms and solar farms.

The Great Clifton application was refused by Allerdale council earlier this year, but the decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate.

Allerdale planners said: "The proposals are inappropriate, non-essential and unjustified at this location with significant harmful impacts on the landscape setting, visual and residential amenity with no sustainable benefits that would outweigh such harm."

But the Planning Inspectorate said: "Having assessed the proposal against the relevant local planning policies and the framework, I find that the proposed scheme would provide a positive contribution to delivering low carbon renewable energy to the National Grid and would be a sustainable form of development in its location."

The sites given approval, plus one in Rochdale, are part of a UK-wide portfolio of projects WYG is assisting BPP with.

All five sites are designed to be built and operational within 12 to 18 months.

Peter Shannon, associate director of planning at WYG, said: “We are incredibly pleased that all sites have received approval.

"It’s a huge testament to the experience and multi-disciplinary approach of our teams who worked closely with BPP as well as the development team to ensure the success of these projects.”

It is not known when work will start to build the plants.