Fresh from blogging about the undesirability of producing energy rather than cereals on local arable land I've just noticed courtesy of my Twitter feed that Professor Charles Godfray, a population biologist from Oxford University, gave a presentation at the Houses of Parliament earlier this week on the closely related topic of food security. Here it is:
Here are a few choice quotes from Prof. Godfray:
Land? They're not making it any more! (Unless perhaps if you're Dutch)
We're going to see increasing competition for water. Water is really scary. We're going to see water running out, especially underground water, and we're going to see increased competition for energy.
The way we produce food at the moment is literally unsustainable. If we continue doing what we are doing to soils, to our water resources and the way we produce food at the moment we will not have the capability to produce food in the same way in 20 to 30 years time.
And finally, the progress that has been made over the last 20 years or so in reducing the number of people who go to bed hungry on Earth has begun to reverse.
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.
Interestingly if Sun2Energy have a functioning website I have been unable to locate it. A quick search on the Companies House website reveals that they filed notification of their new name on 7th June 2012, their share capital amounts to a grand total of one whole pound, and they have never filed any accounts. None of this inspires much confidence in their ability to successfully complete a project of this magnitude.
If the BBC are to be believed then the German company Kronos Solar are behind this venture. If that is indeed the case they are going about it in a less than awe inspiring fashion.
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.
Good Energy's proposed scheme could see 135,000 photovoltaic panels installed on farmland near Week St Mary, between Launceston and Bude.
Accordingly our list of large scale solar PV planning applications currently being considered is now extended into North Cornwall, with the request for a EIA scoping opinion for land adjacent to Little Exe Cottage at Week St Mary joining the two sites already under construction at Eastacombe Farm and Great Knowle Farm around Holsworthy.
According to the Western Morning News once more:
Teacher Pauline Smeeth, whose home is less than half-a-mile from the site, said she was "shocked and angry" with the size of the development.
and
Neal Moxon said the "Proposed development completely surrounds my property. Apart from ruining the natural habitat of the varied wildlife in this tranquil unspoilt area, this proposed development would have a very considerable negative effect on the value of our property,"
If you do happen to know Pauline or Neal perhaps you could pass on our contact details to them?
David Green, the founder of EcoIsland, Sustainability Executive of the Year and "Team Green Britain Hero" has recently taken a video camera with him on a sneak preview of some of the new facilities being constructed for the 2012 London Olympics. Here's what he discovered:
The farmers are angry at the latest round of cuts of up to 2p per litre recently announced by major milk processors, which comes on top of a similar reduction introduced in the spring. They say the cuts will force many farmers out of business, pushing up the price of milk for consumers in the long term.
I have never seen such frustration in the farming industry and a show of unity to right the wrongs that have been imposed on us in the dairy industry.
The latest cuts are the feed bill, the wages, the housekeeping. They will take us into loss making territory and many farmers are losing up to 6p per litre.
We are here because this country needs its dairy farmers. But society does not realise what these farmers are being put through by a market place that does not work and is not fair.
The Farmer's Guardian also recorded a video of today's events:
As you watch it please note that Mr. Raymond also said:
Most of you had no choice but to come here today, because if you did not get on that bus, or catch that train, in 5, 10 or 20 years time you might just look back and say "I wonder if we could have made a difference if we'd stood up and said 'Enough is enough! This is the final straw!'
As you can see, he then got a standing ovation. Agriculture Minister Jim Paice put an alternative point of view:
I'm not afraid to tell you that I have seen numerous dairy farmer's figures over the last couple of years. There is a vast range of production costs. I'm not pointing fingers. All I'm telling you is that there is room, in some cases, in many cases, to reduce them further. That is all I'm telling you. That is why I say to you this whole issue involves everybody from the top to the bottom of the production chain.
In it an MIT professor spends 15 minutes going over many of the vitally important issues in a way I will be unable to do in 5 minutes at Forde House.
As you will hopefully discover, Professor Donald Sadoway enjoys explaining the benefits of grid level storage in general, and liquid metal batteries in particular, to all and sundry. Here are a few choice quotes from his presentation:
The need for grid level storage is compelling, but the fact is that today there is simply no battery technology capable of meeting the demanding performance requirements of the grid. Namely uncommonly high power, long service lifetime and super low cost. We need to think about the problem differently.
Perhaps overlooked, [Alessandro] Volta's invention of the battery for the first time also demonstrated the utility of a professor!
With a giant battery, we'd be able to address the problem of intermittency that prevents wind and solar from contributing to the grid in the same way that coal and gas and nuclear do today.
If we're going to get this country out of its current energy situation, we can't just "conserve" our way out. We can't just "drill" our way out. We can't "bomb" our way out. We're going to do it the "old fashioned American way". We're going to "invent" our way out, working together.
Whilst in general I agree wholeheartedly with those points, I would like to take this opportunity to point out to Prof. Sadoway that perhaps "inventing" is in fact the even older British way. I live in one of the few places in these parts that retains a Celtic name. Dunchideock apparently means "wooded hill fort". A few miles away is the city of Exeter, better known as Isca Dumnoniorum to the Romans around 2,000 years ago. According to Wikipedia:
The Latin name for Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Water of the Dumnonii"), suggests that the city was of Celtic origin. Isca is derived from a Brythonic Celtic word for flowing water, which was given to the Exe and, elsewhere, to the River Usk (Welsh: 'Afon Wysg) on which Caerleon near Newport, South Wales stands. The Romans gave the city the name Isca Dumnoniorum in order to distinguish it from Isca Augusta, modern Caerleon, the name may have been suggested by a Celtic adviser to the Romans, rather than by the original inhabitants of the place.
We know there is a prehistoric or Roman settlement site in the eastern part of the site then it is likely that there are associated or earlier archaeological sites within the rest of the application area. The survey also suggests that there is some sort of industrial activity going on here that may be associated with iron smithing or smelting and the site of this activity could be in the areas yet to be surveyed.
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.
Accordingly Cofford Farm is now the latest entry in our ever growing list of local large scale solar PV planning applications to keep an eye on. On a cursory glance through the paperwork it looks as though this one may well be visible from one of our favourite walks past the Mamhead Obelisk.
The 7th Annual British Renewable Energy Awards took place at the end of last month. It has just been announced that the the Eden Project's "SolarFair" solar power scheme achieved the "runner-up" position in the "Flagship Project Award" category.
Matt Hastings from the Eden Project in front of the "SolarFair" PV panels
The SolarFair scheme involved installing solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of two warehouses on The Eden Project site in Cornwall. That's not particularly unusual, but the way the project has been funded most certainly is. According to the Eden Project blog:
The scheme, which we’ve developed in partnership with not-for-profit energy supplier EBICo, gives Eden staff the chance to invest in a programme which provides free renewable energy for the Eden Project site.
By sharing the benefits of the Feed in Tariff renewable energy initiative, the shareholders can receive attractive returns on investments as small as £200.
Workers at the Eden Project will be entitled to purchase shares in Eden Solarfair in lots as small as £200. This will mean that even those on a limited budget will be able to make an investment in a project which will offer them the kinds of returns that, before, only wealthier individuals with access to large roofs could obtain. In return for free use of the roofs, all the electricity from the panels is supplied, at no cost, to the Eden Project, lowering this unique environmentally conscious facility’s energy bills and significantly reducing its carbon footprint.
This unprecedented initiative seeks an equitable distribution of the benefits of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) renewable energy incentive scheme and came about as a result of innovative thinking by Chris Goodall, the commentator on energy and environmental issues.
A new independent technical report on the potential to generate heat and electricity in the UK from deep geothermal is published today by renowned engineering consultants Sinclair Knight Merz.
The resource is widely spread around the UK with ‘hotspots’ in Cornwall, Weardale, Lake District, East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Worcester, Dorset, Hampshire, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Deep geothermal resource has potential to produce up to 20% of UK electricity and heat for millions
Despite this significant potential, the UK support regime is uncompetitive with other European countries.
REA and Tim Smit urge Government to back ‘birth of a new industry’.
Note that "Cornwall" really ought to read "Devon & Cornwall". Do you suppose pigs will soon be flying in the azure skies above us down here in sunny South West England?
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:
There is an opportunity for members of the public to speak on planning applications at this meeting. Please contact Trish Corns by 12 Noon on Thursday 5 June 2012 at the very latest.
One controversial item under discussion by the committee will be:
TEDBURN ST MARY – 12/00781/MAJ – Land south of Goldcross Hill – Solar Farm.
The report to the committee on the planning application for the Goldscross Hill solar farm from the Service Manager (Development Management) advises them that:
PERMISSION BE GRANTED subject to the following conditions:
Development to commence within three years……..
However not everyone agrees with that conclusion. In particular Tedburn St. Mary Parish Council, having taken advice from their Solar Farms Working Group, not to mention some local residents, say instead in a letter to the committee that it:
STRONGLY OBJECTS to this application for the following reasons:
The size of the development has altered to the initial consultation and is felt to be too large
The development would cause a huge amount of visual damage to an area of outstanding landscape value
There is construction of commercial buildings on agricultural land
There is construction of c.c.t.v towers to a height of 6 metres which is not acceptable
The size and location of the many photo-voltaic panels would cause a distraction to drivers on the A30 dual carriageway which would pose a major accident hazard.
It sounds as though the meeting on 9th July, which is scheduled for 9:45 AM in the Council Chambers at Forde House in Newton Abbot, may well be the scene of some heated debate!
Note once again that "there is an opportunity for members of the public to speak" as long as you inform Teignbridge of your intention to do so by noon on Thursday.
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):
Project developer TGC Renewables said schemes were becoming more ambitious because they were eligible for support under the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) mechanism.
The main challenge is finding sites that are suitable and that meet the tough criteria that are required to obtain all the required permits.
Should you wish to peruse the large pile of virtual paperwork associated with the Marley Thatch Farm solar park project it is freely available on the South Hams planning website.
