Renewables

Renewable Energy

July 13, 2012

Proposed 25 MW Solar Park near North Petherwin, Launceston

Doing my due diligence on the proposed 224 acre solar farm south of Week St Mary I was puzzled by the fact that the application mentions that:

The site is in close proximity to another large scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic farm which will occupy land immediately to the south of Good Energy’s proposed site. This second scheme, proposed for development by Sun2Energy UK Ltd at Lower Wheatley Farm, is also a 25MW(p) scheme and therefore the potential for cumulative impacts is significant. Cumulative effects will be considered in detail by the specialist involved in assessing each of the above sub-headings.

After a bit more digging around on the Cornwall County Council planning search engine I discovered that there is indeed another proposed solar farm, which has been in the planning pipeline for rather longer than the one mentioned by the Western Morning News today. Despite a very different address and postcode the two solar parks are in fact of similar size, and right next door to each other. The developers of this one are Sun2Energy UK Limited, and in their request for a scoping opinion they refer to the site as "Canworthy Solar Farm". This one has now also been entered into our South West Solar hall of fame.

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Proposed 91 Hectare Solar Park at Week St Mary, Holsworthy

The solar park proposals here in South West England get ever more extravagant.  The Western Morning News reports today that:

Worried homeowners have vowed to fight proposals for the country's biggest solar farm which would cover 224 acres of Cornish farmland.

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July 9, 2012

Proposed 23.3 Hectare Solar Park at Cofford Farm, Starcross

I attended the Teignbridge District Council planning committee meeting at Forde House in Newton Abbot earlier today. I was there objecting to the proposed Tedburn St. Mary solar PV farm, and the members ultimately voted to refuse the application with a ratio of 3:1. Over coffee after the vote my local district councillor pointed out to me that a request for a screening opinion had been received for a 23.3 hectare solar PV park near Starcross.

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July 1, 2012

Tedburn St Mary Council Opposes Goldscross Hill Solar Farm

Councillors on the Teignbridge District planning committee have recently received the agenda of a meeting to be held on July 9th. The agenda points out that the the meeting is open to the public, and the "public access statement" therein states that:

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June 30, 2012

South Hams DC Approves 8 MW Solar Park at Marley Thatch Farm near South Brent

The Farmer's Guardian reports this morning that:

Planning approval has been granted for the largest UK solar project to date.

The 8MW project will provide the South West of England based farm with a guaranteed rental income over the next 25 years, and enough electricity to power 2,500 homes. The 27,924 PV panels will be installed over five interconnected fields on a site comprising 15.4 hectares, [at  Marley Thatch Farm] near South Brent in Devon.

The report makes it clear that in this day and age the financial incentive for this (and other large scale solar PV farms in the area) is no longer the Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs for short):

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June 22, 2012

An Open Request for Planning Advice

Friday 22nd June 2012

To:

Jeremy Ebdon – Teignbridge DC Planning Department
Brendan Clarke – Lightsource Renewable Energy

Dear Sirs,

My continued requests for information from the Teignbridge District Council planning department have so far elicited no response from the officer dealing with the Bowhay Farm Solar PV project. As I am sure you must be aware, time is of the essence in these matters. I would be extremely grateful if somebody could get back to me as soon as possible to answer a few queries I have after reading all the documentation available online concerning the SO application.

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June 20, 2012

A Brief View of the Bowhay Farm Solar PV Public Information Evening

I've recently returned from Shillingford St. George, where I sat at the front of the packed village hall whilst Penny and Brendan from Lightsource explained the virtues of generating 12.3 MW of renewable energy on grade 2 agricultural land just north of Dunchideock.  I did enquire if it would be OK for me to record the proceedings on my trusty Sony Handycam, or even just a still camera. Lightsource informed me that they weren't "comfortable" with that idea. The lady sat next to me informed me that she thought "that's a pity".  That is indeed a pity, because it means a more "in depth" report will have to wait for another day,  always assuming that I can successfully decipher my hastily scribbled notes.

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A Variety of Views on the Impact of the Bowhay Farm Solar Park

The person I'm assured I need to speak to in the planning department of Teignbridge council still hasn't replied to any of my phone calls or my email. With this evening's meeting with Lightsource looming I thought I'd pose one of my planning related questions here, to see if anyone else knows the answer. On page 4 of Lightsource's request for a screening opinion it states:

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June 19, 2012

Residents Oppose Tedburn St Mary Solar Farm

According to the BBC:

Plans to build a solar farm near Exeter have been opposed by some residents.

Regular readers please note that the residents in this case live west of Exeter near Tedburn St. Mary, not south of Exeter between Ide and Dunchideock. According to the BBC once more, this solar park has been proposed by Inazin Solar, and they say that:

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June 18, 2012

Lightsource Planning 54 Acre Solar Farm in My Back Yard

I've no idea as yet who put it there, but yesterday I discovered this leaflet in my porch:

Notice of proposed 54 acre 12.3 MW solar farm near Shillingford Abbot

Notice of proposed 54 acre 12.3 MW solar farm near Shillingford Abbot

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