But resident James Finnie believes one of the proposed battery storage facilities near Eccles substation has put his life in limbo. He explained: "Both my wife and I have elderly parents in their 80s and 90s - and we decided a couple of years ago to sell up and move closer so that we could take care of them.
A spokesperson explained: "Connection capacity currently exists at expanded or newly developed strategic substations in the Scottish Borders and this is why we are working to develop, construct and operate a battery energy storage system in immediate proximity to the Eccles HV substation.
Imerys British Lithium said the proximity of the new factory to "one of Cornwall’s mining heartlands is another big milestone in establishing an industry that will help achieve the government’s net zero goals". Electric vehicles use batteries made up of several hundred individual lithium-ion cells.
Residents of Leitholm - a village between Coldstream and Greenlaw - claim the heart is being ripped out of their community with the arrival of battery storage facilities. If all six proposed facilities are approved, more than 200 acres of farmland will be turned over to concreted compounds within a three-kilometre radius of their village.
Cornish Lithium boss Jeremy Wrathall said it represented "a significant stride in fortifying the UK's electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain as the UK develops this vital industry". Imerys British Lithium also said it was a move being "warmly welcomed".
Approval for battery energy storage facilities is decided, depending on their size, by either the local authority or the Scottish government's Energy Consents Unit (ECU). The Scottish government says that impacts on communities are a consideration under their Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4).