South Hams

South Hams District Council

August 22, 2014

Floodgates open to solar farm "monstrosities"?

According to today's edition of the Western Morning News:

Planning Minister Kris Hopkins has revealed he will not “call in” plans for 45,000 solar panels to be build at Coombeshead Farm, Diptford, South Devon.

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September 21, 2013

SBCES Wind Turbine Now Generates Renewable Energy!

As we reported at the end of last month, the South Brent Community Energy Society's "remanufactured" Vestas V27 wind turbine has now been delivered and installed. Here's a time lapse video revealing the steps involved in installing a wind turbine:

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July 3, 2013

UK Parliament to Debate Large Scale Solar PV Parks

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:

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June 15, 2013

AEE Unveil the Coombeshead Solar Park Blog

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:

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March 4, 2013

South Brent Wind Turbine Seeks Extra Investors

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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February 15, 2013

Permission Refused for the Totnes Community Wind Farm

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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October 28, 2012

South Hams DC Approves 5 MW Solar Park at Hatchlands Farm near Harberton

South Hams District Council have approved plans for what the Design and Access Statement refers to as

A 5 megawatt solar PV farm on 13.24 hectares of grade 3 agricultural land

at Hatchlands Farm between Harberton and South Brent. This site is literally just down the road from the 8 MW solar PV park at Marley Thatch Farm that was approved by South Hams earlier this year.  Here's what the area between South Brent and Totnes currently looks like on our interactive map and list of large scale solar PV projects in South West England:

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September 2, 2012

Totnes Community Wind Farm Seeks Planning Permission

The Totnes Community Wind Farm is one of a variety of projects that the Totnes Renewable Energy Society (or TRESOC for short) are involved in which address what they describe as:

The critical need for commercially viable, localised renewable energy technologies

The wind farm project has just taken another significant step on it's long road to:

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August 13, 2012

No EIA Required for the Harberton Solar Farm

Whilst there seems to be much less paperwork showing on the South Hams District Council web site than for similar applications in Teignbridge, the ultimate outcome down there appears to be much the same.  In a delegated decision it has been determined that no environmental impact assessment is required for the proposed 30 acre solar PV park at Hazard Farm near Harberton.

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July 25, 2012

Proposed 30 Acre Solar Park at Hazard Farm, Harberton

Last week's list of planning applications received by South Hams District Council contains the entry:

Request for screening opinion for Solar PV development (new site)

This seems to be an application by TGC Renewables for a large scale solar PV site near Harberton that they consulted local residents about at the same time as their Marley Thatch Farm site.

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