Following our trip to South Brent earlier this year I purchased a few shares in the South Brent Community Energy Society Limited. Following my own modest contribution the society raised all the funds it needed to install a "remanufactured" Vestas V27 wind turbine just outside South Brent without needing to borrow from a bank!

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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.

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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:

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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:

More on AEE Unveil the Coombeshead Solar Park Blog

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:

More on Inazin Appeal Tedburn St Mary Solar Farm Planning Decision. Again!

South Brent Community Energy Society are holding a number of open evenings over the next two weeks where they will be seeking additional funding for the construction of a "medium size" wind turbine near the Marley Thatch Farm solar park. Note that unlike the community wind turbines proposed by TRESOC for just up the road near Totnes, the South Brent project has already received planning permission from South Hams District Council. What's more SBCES have already raised over half the anticipated construction costs of £420,000. The purpose of the forthcoming meetings is to try and raise the rest of the required capital from small investors in the local community. They hope thereby to avoid having to follow in the footsteps of the much larger Westmill Community Wind Farm, that needed a top-up loan from Co-operative Bank.

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On Wednesday afternoon South Hams District Council development management committee debated whether to give permission for the construction of the Totnes Community Wind Farm. They ultimately decided to follow the recommendation in their planning officer's report on the proposal, and refused such permission.  According to the council's decision notice:

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BBC Devon report today that:

A countryside group has raised concerns about Devon farmland being taken out of food production for solar farms.

The "countryside group" the BBC is referring to is in fact The Campaign to Protect Rural England. According to the BBC, Penny Mills from the CPRE has said that:

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According to the Teignbridge District Council planning web site Lightsource Renewable Energy have just withdrawn their application to construct a  54 acre, 10.7 MW solar PV farm between Dunchideock and Ide in Devon. The withdrawal notice reads as follows:

More on Lightsource Withdraw Planning Application for Bowhay Solar Farm

The minutes of the meeting of the Teignbridge District Council planning committee held on November 26th have now been published. For some strange reason their coverage of my own contribution to those events is rather brief. It reads as follows:

More on Floods of Planning Poppycock in Teignbridge