TGC Renewables have just applied to West Somerset District Council for planning permission to install:

A PV solar farm on land at Aller Farm, East of Woodford and North of Monksilver, Williton, TA4 4HH, comprising 20.26 hectares of class 3b agricultural land. The purpose of the solar farm is to provide a clean, renewable and sustainable form of electricity which will help to meet the Government’s target of 20% renewables by 2020. It will generate and export 8.27 MWp to the grid each year which based on an average GB house hold consumption will power approximately 2,281 houses.

Hence Aller Farm has now been added to the "Planning Applications" section of our interactive map and list of large scale solar PV projects in South West England.

TGC say in their design and access statement that the land in question is "class 3b", but a quick inspection of the DEFRA Magic web site suggests that it has not as yet been surveyed for a Post 1988 Agricultural Land Classification grading, and as such is currently simply classified as "Grade 3 agricultural land". Since the differentiation between grade 3a and 3b seems to be about to become more significant for planning decisions on solar "farms" it seems to me this grey area should be clarified (at the developer's expense!) before a final decision is taken.

Not so many moons ago I used to live on the outskirts of Williton, and went walking and cycling through and around Aller Farm. When I have a spare moment or two I'll delve through my virtual photo album of the area, to see if that reveals any relevant information. By way of example here's Aller Farm in 2005:

Aller Farm in 2005

In the first of an occasional series under the "Shock News" banner we reveal how to upset a global warming sceptic in three easy stages.

1. Smell something fishy about a headline that states "New Ice At The North Pole" on July 2nd 2013 and examine "the evidence" from arctic.io presented to substantiate this assertion:

Satellite image of sea ice near the North Pole on July 2nd 2013, courtesy of arctic.io

2. Post a link to an alternative view of the same scene from NASA Worldview:

Satellite image of sea ice near the North Pole on July 2nd 2013, courtesy of NASA EOSDIS Worldview

3. Indulge in a little light hearted banter

A little light hearted banter on July 3rd 2013

4. QED!

Whoops!

5. Hence no opportunity to present any "real scientific" evidence about what's really happening to the Arctic sea ice near the North Pole:

Thermistor temperature profiles for IMB 2012J

It was announced on Twitter earlier today that the UK's Backbench Business Committee has scheduled a debate in Westminster Hall on Thursday July 11th on the topic of large scale solar arrays. Never having heard of the Backbench Business Committee before I rummaged around on the UK Parliament web site and discovered this video, which explains how it works:

In brief the committee is:

A very recent innovation, the very first time that backbenchers themselves can choose issues and subjects that they want to have debated.

In this instance the backbencher in question is Dr. Sarah Wollaston, whose constituency is just down the road from here in Totnes. What's more her chosen subject is large scale solar PV parks! In the "issues" section of her web site Sarah explains at length her view on that delicate subject down here in not so sunny South West England. Again in brief:

The South Hams does well in the National League tables for solar panels on roofs and I am delighted by this. I maintain that roofs are where this technology belongs, not in our green fields, where they look sterile, ugly and out of place. Large solar farms are a waste of prime agricultural land and I believe that their proliferation will be damaging for food production.

That last sentence also summarises much of what I've been saying for the last 12 months, so I'm pleased to discover that the issue will soon get an airing in Parliament. After the announcement Sarah posted a "tweet" of her own, which read as follows:

Debate on the impact of large scale solar arrays will be 3pm on Thursday 11th, please ask your MP to contribute if your area is blighted

— Sarah Wollaston MP (@drwollastonmp) July 3, 2013

Whilst Teignbridge isn't exactly "blighted" by solar PV "farms" as yet I emailed my own Member of Parliament anyway, and you may wish to do so as well. I wonder whether the discussion will cover planning measures to ensure that the technology does go on large roofs?

In related news it seems as though new guidance on planning procedures for large scale solar arrays in England will be be released soon by the National Solar Centre. It's only a draft, but the version I've seen does say that for grade 1 and 2 agricultural land:

1. National Planning Policy would not normally support development on the best agricultural land.
2. The best quality land should be used for agriculture purposes.
3. Clear justification on the benefits a development would have for the land to be taken out of full agriculture use would have to demonstrated.

and for grade 3 land it says:

Readily available maps may not identify whether grade 3 land is 3a or 3b. If the site is grade 3, it should be specifically assessed to establish whether the land meets the criteria for grade 3a or 3b.

A step in the right direction? On the topic of solar PV on roofs the draft NSC guidance also has this to say about "Community scale roof panels":

In many cases fixing solar panels to a community or commercial roof is likely to be considered ‘permitted development’ under planning law with no need to apply for planning permission.

With solar PV panels so cheap these days, why not generate electricity where it will be used instead of "in the middle of nowhere"? In fact why not insist upon it?

If the technology works properly you should be able to view Thursday's debate live below:

P.S. It seems the video above works in retrospect also. Fast forward until the time in the bottom right reads 15:00 to skip the preceding social care reform debate.

Teignbridge District Council have today decided that no Environmental Impact Assessment will be needed for proposals to build two large scale solar PV arrays either side of Rydon Farm near Ogwell. Their decision letter is addressed to Orta Solar, although the "pre-application enquiry" also mentioned Steadfast Solar Limited. In it Teignbridge's case officer states that:

I have concluded that the proposal does not constitute EIA development as it is unlikely to have significant environmental effects.

The two parts of the proposed solar farm will supposedly generate 9 MW and 4 MW of electrical power when working at the peak of their respective capacities. The project follows what seems to be the standard pattern for this part of the world, covering a total of 27.6 hectares of largely grade 2 agricultural land that has a handy set of overhead electricity cables running across it. In this case those cables are rated at 11 kV.

With that hurdle out of the way I assume a planning application will follow at some point. Before shelling out a considerable sum of money for that, however, Orta may wish to watch this speech given in Cornwall recently by Greg Barker, Minister of State at the Department of Energy & Climate Change:

Note the bit where Greg reveals his "key message":

Solar is a genuinely exciting energy of the future, it is coming of age and we want to see a lot, lot more. But not at any cost… not in any place… not if it rides roughshod over the views of local communities.

and then points out that:

It must work for local communities, with sensible, sustainable design of new projects. And for larger deployments, brownfield land should always be preferred.

You can also read the full text of Greg's speech on the UK Government's web site.

My headline for today paraphrases matters only slightly. The exact words of Professor Stephen Belcher, head of the Met Office's Hadley Centre, were as follows:

We think that these are really some cutting edge science questions to be addressed here. No-one in the world can answer these questions, it's really important to emphasise.

as you can discover for yourself if you skip straight to about 4 minutues 35 seconds into the following video:

The occasion recorded for posterity was the "science workshop" held at the Met Office here in Exeter recently, on the topic of the recent "unusual seasons" in the United Kingdom. This may or may not have been the "meeting of top scientists to look at the urgent question of whether the warming of the Arctic is affecting UK weather" promised by the Met Office's Chief Scientist Julia Slingo a couple of months ago, although she was certainly present at the workshop. The Arctic was indeed mentioned by Prof. Belcher as one of the factors affecting the jet stream above the UK, which he described as:

A basket of things that can "load the dice":

1. The El Niño.
2. Solar variability
3. Things in the Atlantic Ocean, and there are processes high up.
4. A thing that has been talked about in the scientific literature a lot recently, which is as Arctic sea ice melts, can that affect the position of the jetstream?

Stephen then went on to go over the aforementioned "cutting edge science questions", which still need to be answered:

The role of the ocean having an imprint on the atmosphere, and setting the jet stream. There are things going on near the Gulf Stream that we need to understand better.

Things happening high up in the atmosphere in the stratosphere, above 10 km.

The role of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

In view of all that, perhaps Stephen and Julia would care to take a look at one or two other YouTube videos. Maybe one of the one's in which Professor Jennifer Francis talks about how the melting of Arctic sea ice affects the jet stream would be a good place to start?

Earlier this year South Hams District Council decided that no preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment would be needed for proposals to build two large scale solar PV arrays near Coombeshead Farmhouse outside Diptford near Totnes. Now it looks as though developers AEE Renewables will be making a full planning application for the 17 MW solar park at some point in the not too distant future. They have started what they describe as a "project blog" which explains the ins and outs of the process. One of the early articles discusses "Future energy requirements for the UK", and points out that:

The way our electricity is produced in the next decade will alter dramatically. Existing coal fired power stations are gradually being decommissioned and nuclear plants are being closed down. The Government is legally bound to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 (based on 1990 levels). By 2020 the UK is committed to produce up to 15% of our electricity from renewable sources. Currently it is about 10%.

Whilst there is some truth in that the last part is a bit curious, since what the UK Government's web site actually says on the topic is:

We are legally committed to meeting 15% of the UK’s energy demand from renewable sources by 2020.

which is not the same thing at all, since the UK currently consumes a variety of forms of energy other than electricity, and in particular renewable heat contributes to the Government's overall renewable energy targets, whilst the contribution that electricity will make towards renewable transport by 2020 is open to debate.

Putting such petty quibbling to one side, the Coombeshead Solar web site also includes a section devoted to "Community benefits". They say that:

AEE actively encourages the local community to engage in a dialogue to get the best solution possible. We would welcome your comments, thoughts and ideas on what you would like to see within your community.

AEE's own thoughts on local community benefits currently include:

An opportunity to switch electricity board to Good Energy, meaning your home will generate electricity from 100% renewable sources, while also receiving a significant discount every year during the lifetime of the solar farm’s operation upon Coombeshead Solar PV farm planning approval.

The opportunity to learn about renewables and the importance of slowing climate change.

The chance to improve the area’s wildlife and biodiversity.

It looks as though AEE are happy to receive comments from local residents about their proposals on their new blog, so now's your chance to let them know what you think about those potential benefits!

On November 26th 2012 Teignbridge District Council planning committee voted to refuse planning permission for Inazin Solar's application to construct a 13.5 Ha solar photovoltaic "farm" on land owned by the Fulford Estate near Gold's Cross Hill, between Tedburn St. Mary and Cheriton Bishop. I presume the fact that I objected to that application, at the second time of asking, explains why I have just received a letter from Teignbridge DC which says (amongst other things) that:

I write to inform you that Fulford Solar Park Ltd. has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against the Council's decision. Any comments you made at application stage have been forwarded to the Planning Inspectorate. If you want to make any additional comments you must submit these direct to the Planning Inspectorate. Comments must be submitted by 30 May 2013.

Much like the first time around I do indeed want to make some additional comments. If you do too then you may wish to take a look at the latest entry on our interactive map and list of large scale solar PV projects in South West England, which includes links to both the Teignbridge and Planning Inspectorate paperwork concerning this most recent appeal.  Here's an extract from the "Grounds of Appeal" section of the appeal form:

The provision of energy from renewable sources is encouraged by national and local policies and it can be demonstrated that the development, the subject of this appeal will provide a valuable contribution towards meeting the targets of the District, which at present produces very little of its energy from renewable sources. It is considered that the benefits to be derived from the supply of renewable energy, which are becoming ever more important in the light of increasing uncertainty over the security of the UK's energy supply, outweigh any localised and limited harm to the AGLV.

Since the previous appeal so much new information has come to light that it's hard know where to start. Let's begin with climate change and food security shall we?  There's no mention of that topic in Fulford Solar Park Limited's paperwork so far, but presumably the "provision of energy from renewable sources is encouraged by national and local policies" because of a perceived need to "address climate change" in some way? As we reported very recently, the news on the climate change front certainly hasn't got any better since Inazin's first appeal. High level meetings of the world's best scientists have been arranged by the Met Office here in the UK and at The White House in the US to try and answer what the chief scientist at the Met Office describes as "a really urgent question".

Earlier this year I discussed with a variety of interested parties the topic of "Food Production Fears Over Devon Solar Farms". The conclusion from perspectives varying from renewable energy developers to Friends of the Earth to the National Farmer's Union was that "planning applications should only be submitted for low yield agricultural land."

All of which begs the obvious question which seems to me to be this: "Why on Earth are Inazin trying for the fourth time to get permission to build a solar park on agricultural land that is demonstrably more than capable of growing plenty of food for human consumption"

The Australian Climate Commission have just released two reports on climate change and the measures being taken around the world to address it. The first is entitled "The Critical Decade: Extreme Weather". Our headline covers the sort of extreme weather we're most familiar here in South West England, but the Climate Commission present a long list of other examples of recent extreme weather in Australia:

Heat: Extreme heat is increasing across Australia. There will still be record cold events, but hot records are now happening three times more often than cold records.

Bushfire weather: Extreme fire weather has increased in many parts of Australia, including southern New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and parts of South Australia, over the last 30 years.

Rainfall: Heavy rainfall has increased globally. Over the last three years Australia’s east coast has experienced several very heavy rainfall events, fuelled by record-high surface water temperatures in the adjacent seas.

Drought: A long-term drying trend is affecting the southwest corner of Western Australia, which has experienced a 15% drop in rainfall since the mid-1970s.

Sea-level rise: Sea level has already risen 20 cm. This means that storm surges ride on sea levels that are higher than they were a century ago, increasing the risk of flooding along Australia’s socially, economically and environmentally important coastlines.

The bullet points following that assessment read as follows:

• Climate change is making many extreme events worse in terms of their impacts on people, property, communities and the environment. This highlights the need to take rapid, effective action on climate change.
• The climate system has shifted, and is continuing to shift, changing the conditions for all weather, including extreme weather events.
• There is a high risk that extreme weather events like heatwaves, heavy rainfall, bushfires and cyclones will become even more intense in Australia over the coming decades.
• Only strong preventive action now and in the coming years can stabilise the climate and halt the trend of increasing extreme weather for our children and grandchildren.

The second report, entitled "The Critical Decade: Global Action Building on Climate Change", discusses what preventive action is being take around the world. The emphasis on China and the United States since, as we pointed out no so long ago, those two countries:

Are the world’s two largest economies and together produce approximately 37% of world emissions.

The bullet points this time around state that:

• The energy giants China and the United States are accelerating action.
• China’s efforts demonstrate accelerating global leadership in tackling climate change.
• The United States has made a new commitment to lead.
• Global momentum to tackle climate change is growing. Every major economy is tackling climate change, setting in place policies to drive down emissions and increase investment and capacity of renewable energy.
• Australia is a major player and is important in shaping the global response to climate change.
• This is the critical decade for action.

Whilst the United States may have made "a new commitment" I'm afraid I find it hard to discern enough in the way of "accelerating action" from over on that side of the Atlantic just yet. As the Climate Commission themselves put it:

While significant progress is being made, it is not enough. Globally emissions are continuing to rise strongly, posing serious risks for our society. This decade must set the foundations to reduce emissions rapidly to nearly zero by 2050. The earlier such action is under way the less disruptive and costly it will be.

All countries, particularly the major emitters like China, the United States and Australia, must move beyond their current commitments to reduce their emissions more deeply and swiftly. This is the critical decade to turn the global emissions trend downwards and to set the global foundations for accelerating reductions in decades to come.

One might easily conclude that in fact the previous decade would have been a much better time "to turn the global emissions trend downwards", but that didn't happen.  As if to make my point for me, the Australian Climate Commission have also produced a short animation to accompany those two hefty tomes. It's entitled "Climate Change Fuelling Wilder Weather", and here it is:

What can we do? Here's the conclusion of the Australian Climate Commission:

We need to prepare to live in a world with more intense, extreme weather. This is the critical decade. We are the critical people.

Why should we care about abrupt climate change in the Arctic? Because climate change in the Arctic leads to climate change outside the Arctic, and in particular here in South West England!

Here's a new video that shows one of the "abrupt changes" that's been taking place in the Arctic over the last few years:

You don't need to be a climate scientist to work out that the "Arctic summer sea ice cube" will have all but vanished soon. Once that has happened an even more significant "ice cube" will start melting in earnest instead: The Greenland Ice Sheet. The significance is that when sea ice melts sea levels remain much the same. When ice that's currently over land turns into water in the ocean then sea levels rise.

The already evident changes to our climate and the prospect of sea levels rising more quickly than previously have already prompted the head of the UK's Met Office to declare that "our climate is being disrupted by the warming of the Arctic" and to convene a panel of scientists to try and answer "a really urgent question".

Now comes news from over the soon to be rising pond that another panel of scientists is assembling in the White House to try and answer that question too. According to The West Australian:

In a room at the White House next week, an extraordinary meeting of the brightest minds will attempt to form a strategy to curb climate change's crippling effects on the Arctic.

Amid fears the top of the planet could be free of summer ice within two years, the meeting has been organised by a US brains trust on the Arctic that includes NASA's chief scientist, the director of the US National Science Foundation, representatives from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. Joining them in Washington will be Professor Carlos Duarte, a marine scientist from Perth, who is one of 10 researchers from around the world called on to help protect the Arctic.

Professor Duarte recently published his latest research into the effects of a warming Arctic on plankton. According to news from the University of Western Australia:

This research revealed that the two-week spring algal bloom occurring in April as the Arctic emerges from its winter darkness and the sea-ice starts to thin is so productive it can fuel the food web for the entire year and remove significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere on an annual basis.

That sounds like it might be good news, but there is more:

Experiments involving temperature manipulations conducted in the Svalbard Islands indicated that the plankton community switches from acting as a sink to acting as a source of CO2 to the atmosphere at seawater temperatures in excess of 5 C. The researchers noted that this temperature will be regularly observed in the European Sector of the Arctic Ocean over the coming decades.

all of which:

Led an international team of researchers to issue a stark warning about the perils the world faces in the near future.

Here's Carlos Duarte's public lecture mentioned in that article, in which he covers a wide range of changes caused by the increase in the Arctic Ocean temperature apart from just those to the spring algal bloom. He also discusses the abrupt onset of melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet last summer for example:

In conclusion, here's what the Greenland Ice Sheet melting map looks like at the moment:

The NSIDC Greenland Daily Melt Map for April 26th 2013

I wonder what solutions to the "urgent problem" of "abrupt climate change" those two "brains trusts" will come up with?

Following a suggestion by "arcticio" on the Arctic Sea Ice Forum we've just constructed a small cluster of Raspberry Pi single board computers and set it to work simulating the climate of Planet Earth. Consider it as the econnexus.org.uk contribution to Earth Day 2013!

The econnexus.org.uk Raspberry Pi Planet Simulator cluster

The open source software package we're using is the "Planet Simulator" from the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg. According to arcticio it's:

A [climate] model with a medium complexity and resolution. Simple simulations run really fast. Also it is easy to design experiments, no sea ice, no Himalayas, bigger earth, another orbit, etc.

To get the individual members of our small cluster of Raspberry Pis communicating with each other we referred to the instructions on how to make a "Raspberry Pi Supercomputer" provided by Prof. Simon Cox of the University of Southampton. If you'd like to construct something similar yourself explicit instructions on how to go about it are available as part of our Distributed Arctic Sea Ice Model project. Here's a snapshot of the end result, after the Pi Planet Simulator Cluster was left running overnight:

One simulation of the climate of Planet Earth

The Planet Simulator also built and ran just fine for us on Scientific Linux and Mac OS X. We'll leave experimenting with it on Windows to another day! In the meantime there a multitude of other uses that the Planet Simulator could be put to.

Does anyone have any bright ideas?