Full planning permission has been granted under delegated powers for a ground-mounted solar farm in Suffolk.
The scheme will be located on 95.14 ha of land just north of RAF Honington in Fakenham Magna, on what is currently four fields of agricultural land.
It will also include associated infrastructure, including inverters, transformers, a DNO (distribution network operator) substation, battery storage and grid connection.
It will have an export capacity of 50MW, the annual energy consumption for approximately 15,000 homes.
The application was managed by Lanpro and EIA processes, on behalf of Euston Solar Farm Ltd., a subsidiary of Island Green Power (IGP).
Beccy Rejzek, associate director of Lanpro said “Lanpro are providing multi-disciplinary services on a number of solar farm sites for IGP across the country and are pleased to have secured approval for this 50MW scheme in Suffolk.
The absence of any neighbour or public comments on the planning application and its approval under delegated powers, is a reflection of a good quality application submission and what an ideal site this is for a solar farm.”
Dave Elvin, head of projects at Island Green Power said “We are very pleased to have been granted planning permission for Euston Solar Farm which will make a significant contribution towards meeting our national climate change ambitions. Enough power will be generated annually to power the equivalent of over 15,000 homes, whilst there are also a range of ecological enhancements including specific improvements for rare bird species and bats. The benefits of these measures will be monitored for the life of the solar farm to ensure the improvements work as intended and help continued research for the future.
There is a substantial change in perception of large-scale solar farms where we’re seeing a shift from a low number of objections – with the vast majority of people not commenting on applications in the past – to growing public support in recent months. The lack of public objections at Euston Solar Farm made the grant of planning a much easier decision for the local authority despite it being at the 50MW maximum capacity for a Town and Country Planning Act planning application. That recognition and support of the need for solar from the public and decision-makers alike is vital to delivering a cleaner future for all of us.
The construction details are now being finalised with an expectation that the site will be built and generating power in the first few months of 2023.”
Image source- Lanpro
© Eastern Echo (powered by ukpropertyforums.com).
Sign up to receive your free bi-weekly Eastern Echo journal here.
