Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s decision to approve the largest solar farm so far will bolster energy security while helping to push down energy bills and wean the country off expensive natural gas, says the solar industry.[1]
The go-ahead for the 600-megawatt Cottam solar farm is expected to save an impressive 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – about a 0.1% of the UK’s entire annual emissions – while powering an average of 180,000 homes per year.[2]
Straddling Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, it will feed into the grid using the connection formerly employed by the demolished Cottam coal-fired power station, replacing almost a third of the plant’s capacity. The last remaining coal fired power station in the UK, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, is set to close at the end of this month.
“Today’s announcement is another step in the right direction towards a sustainably-powered solar nation, offering a more secure and affordable energy system. It is also another welcome confirmation of the new government’s support for the solar sector, in anticipation of the forthcoming Solar Roadmap, which will set the country on the path to reaching 50 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2030,” said Stephen Wilding, Director of Business Development at Solar Energy UK.
“We are delighted to receive planning consent for Cottam, which demonstrates our commitment to delivering clean, reliable, and sustainable energy by working in partnership with communities, local authorities, and key stakeholders. The project will play a vital role in supporting the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy, generating enough clean, renewable, and secure energy to power 180,000 households annually,” said Bob Psaradellis, CEO of Cottam’s developer, Island Green Power.
The company’s Head of Projects UK Eve Browning added: “We will now begin the next phase of development and look forward to delivering the full opportunities of the project. This includes making significant benefits to the local community and environment by enhancing the biodiversity and wildlife across the site and introducing a new route for local walkers. These improvements are alongside direct funding from the project to support local communities. We would like to thank all those who have given their time throughout the development process with feedback being critical to the strength of our final proposals.”
With a capacity of over 50MW, Cottam is a nationally significant infrastructure project, meaning that it was considered by central government rather than a local authority.
“This government is determined to give families and businesses energy security by getting off the rollercoaster of unstable international gas markets that led to increased bills. The only way to do this is to back cheap, homegrown energy which boosts our economy and supports us in lowering bills for good,” said Ed Miliband.
“Solar is one of the cheapest sources of power and we must take advantage of the clean and secure energy. Today’s decision is one of four I’ve made in the last eight weeks, which provide almost 2GW of solar enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. It builds on this week’s renewables auction, the most successful in British history. This is a government in a hurry to deliver the change it promised for the British people,” he added.
The secretary of state’s decision accords with the recommendation of the Planning Inspectorate, which found that, “there is a convincing case” for Cottam, stating that is would make, “a significant contribution to the urgent need for low carbon electricity generation”.
The project will result in significant enhancements to biodiversity through the creation of permanent grassland, alongside new trees hedgerows and generous ecological buffer zones – including watercourses and marginal habitats. This is expected to result in substantial increase in wildlife habitats, expressed as biodiversity net gain of 77% for habitat units and 56% for hedgerow units.
The inspectorate accorded “little negative weight” to the loss of agricultural land, considering it both temporary and reversible.
A total of seven NSIP-scale solar farms have now secured consent. The others are Little Crow (150MW), Cleve Hill (373MW), Longfield (420MW), Mallard Pass (350MW), Gate Burton (500MW) and Sunnica (500MW) – the latter three all being approved shortly after the general election. Their combined capacities come to just under 2,900MW – about 15% of the UK’s current installed capacity, both on rooftops and on the ground.
A total of 24 other NSIP solar farms are in the pre-application stage, with three under examination and decisions on another two – Ecotricity’s Heckington Fen and Island Green Power’s West Burton project – expected in the coming weeks. Yet more are at less advanced stages of development.
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